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THE 

ENEMIES 

OF THE 

OR, 

AN INQUIRY 

INTO 

THE ORIGIN AND TENDENCY 

OP 

POPUL.AH VIOLENCE. 

CONTAINING 

A COMPLETE AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE 

UNLAWFUL PROCEEDINGS AT THE CITY OF 

UTICA, OCTOBER 21sT, 1835; 

THE DISPERSION 

OF THE 

STATE ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION 

By tlic Agitators, 

THE DESTRUCTION OF A DEMOCRATIC PRESS, AND OF 
THE CAUSES WHICH LED THERETO. 

TOGETHER WITH A C0NCTSE TREATISE ON THE PRACTICE OP 
THE COURT OF 

HIS HONOR JUDGE S/STNCH. 



" It is ao-ainst silent and slow attacks, that the nation ought to 
be particularly on its guard." Vattell. 

ACCOMPANIED WITH NUMEROUS HIGHLY INTERESTING 
AND IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS. 






BY DEFENSOR. 



NEW-YORK: 

LEAVITT, LORD, & CO. 1 80 BROADWAY 

G. TRACY, UTICA. 

1835. 



[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, 
by William Thomas, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern 
District of New York.] 



PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. 



In the following treatise, plainness and simplicity have been 
my constant and undeviating aim. If I have been liberal and 
unsparing in censures, I can appeal to an approving conscience 
for the rectitude of my intentions — for the evidence that in every 
sentence which has been uttered I have been guided by a scrupu- 
lous adherence to truth and justice. If any whose conduct has 
been called in question should have occasion to complain of ne- 
glect, they may be well assured that the true cause is, the want of 
information — that the bounds within which I was obliged to be 
confined would not permit, or that the place they occupy in the 
ranks of the " Enemies of the Constitution " does not render them 
sufficiently formidable to require that they should receive more 
particular notice. It has been necessary frequently to bring into 
view the nholitinnistc and th^ agitators,* — the movements and 
measures of each. But I have carefully avoided touching upon 
the peculiar sentiments of the Anti-slavery Society. I am nei- 
ther a member of that society, nor have any connexion with its 
movements. I am indeed opposed to slavery ; but what particu- 
lar mode of emancipation would be most expedient, is a question 
involving consequences too grave to approach in a treatise like 
the following, where it has no necessary connexion with the sub- 
ject. To present a well-digested scheme would be inconsistent 
with the design and limits of this work, even if I were blessed 
with the wisdom and research necessary for the task. Upon a 
question so important, therefore, I have neither the inclination 
nor confidence to attempt to forestall the reader's opinion. 

* The agitators are those who are endeavouring, by deception 
and fraud, To subvert the constitution, and change the settled policy 
of this country. These fanatics, by means of their incendiary 
meetings and publications, have long been labouring to inflame 
the public mind against the abolitionists, by misrepresenting their 
sentiments and designs. They have industriously circulated 
throughout the southern states publications of the most inflamma- 
tory and incendiary character, calculated to produce an insurrec- 
tion anion a- the slave-holders, and a dissolution of the union. 
With suchassiduous and untiring zeal have their disorganizing 
schemes been pursued, that they have agitated the country to its 
utmost bounds with excitement and alarm, which threaten to sun- 
der the most endearing relations and most sacred ties. 



IV PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. 

An elaborate account is given of the violence committed by the 
agitators upon the Utica Convention, and of all the preparatory 
movements which led to that outrage. The reader will naturally 
inquire, Where is the evidence, and who are the witnesses of these 
transactions 7 The evidence is ample ; and fortunately individu- 
als who were eyewitness, and can bear testimony to the truth of 
the following, statements are to be found in almost every county 
in the state of New-York. " For these things were not done in 
a corner." 

The testimony of one individual, in whose veracity we can con- 
fide, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of the facts he relates ; 
but the reader shall not be limited to one or two individuals, but 
shall be furnished with the names of five hundred witnesses, 
by whose testimony every word can be established.* They are 
individuals of respectability and unquestionable veracity, selected 
from every part of the State of New- York, besides three from the 
State of Ohio, and one from the State of Virginia, in order that 
they may give their testimony viva voce, and be examined and 
cross-examined by all who are disposed, with just intentions, to 
question them on this subject. Most readers, therefore, who de- 
sire to know the truth of these matters, are furnished with an op- 
portunity of satisfying themselves from the mouths of their own 
neighbours and friends. 

The Appendix is by no means the least interesting portion of 
the following work. The arrangement of the whole will be seen 
more fully by reference to the table of contents. The documents, 
originating from the head of an executive department of our go- 
vernment, which have been productive of so much evil to our 
country, the official reports of the meetings <*i' the agitators, held 
previous to and on the day of the Anti-slavery Convention, are 
inserted entire, accompanied with notes and remarks ; also the 
ollicial report of the proceedings of the conservative meeting of the 
citizens of Utica, convened on the evening previous to the Con- 
vention. The copious extracts from various ollicial documents, 
showing the tone and temper of the south on the subject of slavery, 
and demanding the enactment of penal laws against all who shall 
discuss that subject ; the extracts from the writings of Thomas 
Jefferson, showing his opinions and views on that subject, and 
the extracts from the Federal and State Conventions, Bhowing 
our rights in the present alarming state of affairs, are all highly 
important to be read and understood by every true friend vi 
liberty 

The speeches of Gerrit Smith and Alvan Stewart, Esquires, 
are specimens of eloquence of a high and exalted character, and 
cannot fail to beadmiredby every candid and liberal mind At a 
time when our country i- torn w ith faction, when a corrupt party 
spirit has become universally prevalent, and the press is subjected 
to its absolute control ■ when great principles are sacrificed at the 

■ See Appendix, .No. x. 



PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. V 

altar of personal ambition ; when those who ought to be our pro- 
tectors and our guides, are insidiously scattering the seeds of dis- 
sension, alarm, and distrust, and pursuing conduct which tends 
inevitably to produce in society dire feuds, civil strife, and the 
certain disruption of the social compact itself, it is the part of 
wisdom to seek direction in the tried counsels of the patriots and 
sages of other times. In the extracts from the sentiments of 
Washington and Jefferson, and other authorities admitted by 
all, which are given in the following work, ample direction will 
be found applicable to the trying circumstances with which we 
are surrounded. 

There are many chicken-hearted individuals, who will pity me 
for having ventured, with so much boldness, to expose to public 
view, conduct in which so many honourable men were engaged. 
There is, say they, a diversity of sentiment on this subject ; a 
large class, and possibly a majority of the community are inclined 
to favour those measures which he has unequivocally condemned ; 
and although we know that he is right, yet it was rash for him to 
incur the wrath and indignation of so many honourable men, and 
to brave the more dreadful fury of a lawless rabble, by whose pa- 
triotism they were so promptly sustained. To this I reply, there 
will be no need of writing upon this subject when the very object 
of writing is already accomplished — when every body condemns 
these doings. Besides, when the cause of justice becomes popu- 
lar, it will call to its aid many pens abler than mine. 

Let these well-meaning individuals reserve their pity for their 
children, for whose limbs the chains of tyranny are already be- 
ginning to be forged. Only do you, kind reader, consider whether 
I speak truth ; and if to declare the truth shall call forth upon 
me the hottest indignation and bitterest calumnies of these men, 
and their confederates, and the more furious rage of the servile 
and vicious horde, who, long inured to slavish submission, have 
become the creatures of their will, and strangers to any other 
impulse or restraint ; all this I can endure for my country's sake. 
I was not ignorant, in the beginning, that an attempt to expose their 
iniquity would subject me to the vilest slanders that the direst ma- 
lignity of the enemies of the constitution could invent. What if the 
malice of these men should pour upon my reputation a continuous 
shower of its insidious missiles 1 It is not for reputation that X 
labour. I do not seek popular favour. It is the highest good of 
my fellow-citizens that I seek. And, although an attempt to de- 
stroy my reputalion would be felt with the keenest sensibility, al- 
though the approbation and esteem of my fellow-citizens are as 
dear to me as my own life, yet I call heaven to witness that my 
country's welfare is dearer to me than both. In the humble part 
I have to act as an American citizen, the favour which I most fer- 
vently beg heaven to grant is, that neither my tongue nor my pen 
may ever become the slave of party, or subject to the impulse of 
passion, or the restraint of fear; that to discharge my duty to my 
country, and my whole country, shall be my constant aim, and an 

I* 



VL PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. 

nudaunted freedom its concomitant. If you, generous reader, 
were to receive a personal injury from one professing to be your 
friend, surely you could not disregard it. But what is a personal 
indignity compared with an injury which is inflicted upon a whole 
nation ? What is the welfare of one individual compared with 
that of millions! How much more then ought we to regard and 
correct those abuses which are gradually corrupting and trans- 
forming a government established "to promote our common wel- 
fare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of 
liberty," into a powerful party engine, with which a few designing 
men achieve their conquest, and convert to their own aggrandize- 
ment the spoils of the vanquished ; to condemn, in the most em- 
phatic terms, and unfold to public view, the conduct of those men, 
who, under specious pretexts, employed to secure popular favour 
and support, arc hewing away the last great pillar of our nation's 
safety. We are not to wait until our alarms are awakened by the 
sounding trumpet and glittering steel of a marshalled host of fo- 
reign invaders, or until we shall behold, seated upon a gorgeous 
throne, high and lifted up, the tyrant, clothed in all the habili- 
ments of royalty, securely wielding the sceptre of oppression 
over us. But it is against silent and slow attacks, made by those 
who feign the highest regard for the interest of the people, that 
we ought to be constantly on our guard. Nor is it over the con- 
duct of the ministers of the people alone that we are to watch 
with a jealous eye. It is the more fatal and ruinous tendency of 
lawless encroachments of popular violence that we have most to 
fear. But what language can express his guilt, who, " unmoved 
by passion or prejudice," but " peaceably ," with a deliberate and 
fixed purpose, sets at naught the constitution and the law, and 
contemptuously tramples upon our dearest and most sacred 
rights ! 

There is one >UL r ::''>:ion further, which I desire may he well 
considered. We all know, that those who seek to do mischief on 
an extensive scale, endeavour in the most artful manner to conci- 
liate and bring to their aid popular favour. There is a certain class 
ofindividuals in almost every community, who are invariably found 
on the side of these men. Now, it was a wise saying of an an- 
cient philosopher, which every-day's experience has proved to he 
true, that a man's character may be known by the company he 
keeps It is a truth as well settled, there can lie no agreement be- 
tween things Opposite in their natures. If, therefore, it lie true, 
(which we most religiously believe] that our government be found- 
ed upon the pure principles of philanthropy, virtue, and morality, 
and is best adapted to the want.- of society, and Calculated to pro- 
mote t heir highest good* is it not natural to conclude, that the in- 
telligent, moral, virtu.. us, and philanthropic portion of the com- 
munity, those who are most active in promoting the welfare and 
happiness of their fellow-beings, with the hope of no other reward 
hut the satisfaction which arises from a c insciousness of doing 
well, are the friends oi' this government ! And is it not equally 



PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. Vli 

natural to conclude, that those noted subjects of intemperance and 
vice, who live only to curse society with an immoral and pestifer- 
ous influence, and to add to human misery, are not the friends of 
this government ? When these characters combine, can it be for 
any good purpose ? When we see them prosecuting any purpose, 
whether political or otherwise, with a loud and clamorous zeal, 
may we not justly suspect that there is some evil lurking in their 
designs 1 When we see an individual invoking the aid of this 
class of the community, and deriving his support from them, verily 
we have reason to distrust the purity of his intentions. If this 
reasoning fails, it must inevitably follow, that our government, 
instead of depending upon the virtue and intelligence of the peo- 
ple for its support, can only be safe under the universal reign of 
ignorance and vice. And then it must also follow, that it is^a vi- 
cious government ; for there is no agreement between virtue and 
vice, nor can one be supported by the other. But it was barely 
a hint I intended. The point cannot be pursued further at pre- 
sent. 

I cannot omit noticing in the beginning, the dangerous ten- 
dency of a most subtle artifice (I might say conspiracy), much 
employed of late by the enemies of the constitution. We are of- 
ten told, that public opinion is the law of the land, and that to this 
we are bound to yield. By this cunning device, attempts are 
often made to destroy rights expressly guarantied by the constitu- 
tion, even by the expression of public opinion in a single town, 
county, or state, in the primary assemblies of the people. We will 
suppose that those who originated this conspiracy, only contend 
that the expression of the opinions of a majority of the nation 
is to have the force of authority, and that we must conform to it. 
This is placing their doctrines in a more favourable light than the 
facts will warrant, and if in this light they prove to be false and 
subversive of true liberty, it will be unnecessary to exhibit their 
more odious features. 

The danger of committing the management of the affairs of 
state to the capricious impulse of primary assemblies, was not 
overlooked in the establishment of our government. Public opi- 
nion, it is true, legitimately expressed by legislative enactments, is 
binding. The constitution and law are the voice of the people, 
and are supremely obligatory upon all. We can recognise no 
other voice than this. But our enemies would deceive us by 
changing the names of things. What the constitution and laws 
forbid them to touch, they would take away by that which they 
call public opinion. Whal ! shall the people tear from us, with 
one hand, that which they have freely given us with the other 1 
What matters it whether we are bound with chains of iron or 
steel ? If we are to be slaves, what matters it by what means we 
are deprived of liberty 1 Will the yoke of tyranny be more tole- 
rable to bear when it is fastened to our necks by public opinion ? 
If our rights are to depend upon the fluctuating opinions of the 
inhabitants of the ville, county, or state where we reside, then in- 



Vlll PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS. 

deed is our constitution but a shadow, and the whole machinery 
of our government a mere farce. Those who thus deceive us, 
however they may vary their positions, and however plausible their 
pretences, have but one end in view at last ; they would subvert 
our constitution, and accustom us to bear the yoke of tyranny 
under a false name. The present is a time which demands the 
utmost watchfulness of the friends of our country. The designs 
upon its liberties are of the most formidable and alarming charac- 
ter. But the people are asleep. A gentle voice seems to call to 
them, Awake, watch ; you are surrounded by enemies in disguise ; 
but yet they seem not to heed it. Shortly they may be saluted 
with this same friendly voice, saying, " Sleep on now and take 
your rest," your liberties are betrayed into the hands of your 
enemies. 

DEFENSOR. 
Ncic-York, December 25, 1835. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction — Inquiry iuto the origin of popular violence — Exe- 
cution of a number of American citizens, without trial — Seizure of 
the U. S. mail at Charleston, S. C, and the burning of its contents 
by the 'populace — The Postmaster at Charleston refuses to deliver 
certain papers tc the persons entitled to them, and asks for instruc- 
tions from the Postmaster General — The Postmaster General B doea 
not condemn the act — Extract from the Evening Post in relation to 
Mr. Kendall's conduct — Mr. Gouverneur, Postmaster at New- York, 
refuses to forward certain papers according to the requirement of 
the law, and asks for instructions from Postmaster General — 
The latter approves the course Mr. Gouverneur has adopted — Re- 
marks upon the character and tendency of Mr. Kendall's conduct 
and sentiments — Extract from the biartford Times in relation there- 
to — Mr. Kendall's new doctrines become popular with certain 
classes — Violence and insubordination ensues — The mob in Balti- 
more discharge their higher obligations — Amos Dresser's narrative 
-Origin of the excitement against the abolitionists, Page 9 

II. 

Practice of the court of his honour, Judge Lynch — Law-break- 
ing reduced to a system — How to detect the chief movers of 
riots, 48 

III. 

History of the Anti-Slavery Convention — Preliminary sugges- 
tions — Expressions of public sen iments against the abolitionists in 
various parts of the United States. The abolitionists are so "fool- 
hardy" as to think for themselves — It is determined by certain po- 
litical aspirants, for the success of their cause, to put the abolitionists 
down at all hazards, "forcibly if necessary" — A State Convention 
is appointed to be held at Utica — The citizens hold a meeting at the 
City Hall, to show their aversion to the assemblage of said Conven- 
tion in Utica — Discovery of the " prudential restrictions" — Speech 



X CONTENTS. 

of the Hon. Samuel Beardsley — The enforcement of the " pruden- 
tial restrictions" becomes a party measure — The Common Council 
grant to the Anti Slavery Convention the privilege of holding their 
meeting in the court-room — A great effort is made to inflame the 
public mind against this act of the council — An indignation meeting 
La asa obled at the court-room — Great display of patriotism among 
the drunkards — The Mayor and City Attorney attend the meeting 
— <: Satan cometh also" — The act of the Common Council is nulli- 
fied — The agitators determine to " go revolution" — Language and 
conduct of A. G. Dauby and Hon. Samuel Beardslev — The friends 
of order are clamoured down — The agiiators determine upon forci- 
ble resistance, and adjourn to meet at the same place on the 21st 
Oct. at 9 o'clock — These subjects become the topic of general con- 
versation — A conservative meeting is assembled at the court-room, 
on Tuesday evening, Oct 30th, for the purpose of discountenancing 
violence — The agitators, with their forces, gathered together from 
various parts of the country, appeared at the meeting — The meet- 
ing is organized and resolutions are reported — The agitators raise a 
tumult, and interrupt the proceedings — Meeting of the agitators on 
the 21st — Assemblage, organization, and proceedings of the Conven- 
tion — The agitators determine to accomplish their design by 

': of twenty live — Their appointment, duties, and descrip- 
tion — They run about the streets hunting for the Convention — Ar- 
rive at the National Hotel — Timor appenrs at the door and cries 
Stub .v. but declines leading the pack from " feelings of delicacy" — 
The pack lind their way to the place whi : i Dtion are as- 

sembled, and are joined by se\eral hundreds more ravenous than 
themselves — The whole canine squadron enters with great fierceness 
into the church — The old sportsman cries Get out, until we secure 
tl 3] i of Hon. Samuel Beardsley before the mob in tho 

-Reply to his speech by Thomas Jefferson — Extract from 
the ( meida Standard an I — Proc mu's of the agitators 

during the day and follov - irs at the he- 

et — Destru type in 

icrat — An assault is meditated 
upon the hou id Stewart— It is ] 

lulted while going to Pe- 
•f the conduct of the committee of t went 

iple desire to know " what apology can be made" for their 
conduct— The tendency of t] dings — Character of the 

Convention, - - - *'*." " ■ ■ 54 



CONTENTS. XI 

IV. 

Sentiments of Thomas Jefferson on the subject of slavery, and its 
abolition — Effects of slavery upon the liberties of the nation — Ex- 
tract from a foreign paper — Tendency of the measures of the agita- 
tors — Their effect upon the union — Remarks upon the new doctrines 
and policy — The last advice of Washington — Remarks upon the 
liberty of speech and the press — How we are to avoid the dangerous 
crisis which the country is approaching, and maintain the authority 
of the constitution and supremacy of the laws, - - 104 



APPENDIX, 

No. I. 



Establishment of a censorship of the press— Copy of the letter of 
the Postmaster General to the Postmaster at Charleston — Notes 
and remarks thereon, ------ Page 123 

No. II. 

Creation of ten thousand censors of the press — Copy of the letter 
of the Postmaster General to Samuel L. Gouverneur, Postmaster 
at the city of New- York — Notes and remarks thereon, - 125 

No. III. 

Official report of the proceedings of the meeting of the citizens 
of Utici, assembled on the 17th Oct. to take in consideration the 
vote of the Common Council, granting to the Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention the privilege of meeting in the court-room, accompanied 
with notes and remarks, ------- 135 

No. IV. 

Off.chl report of the proceedings of the Consevrative meeting of 
the ( itizens of Utica, convened on the evening of the 20th Oct. 139 



XU CONTENTS. 

No. V. 

Official report of the meeting of the agitators, held at the court- 
house, on the 21st Oct., for the purpose of organizing, in opposition 
to the public authorities, and breaking up the Anti-Slavery Conven- 
tion — Notes and remarks thereon, 141 

No. VI. 

A collection of extracts from various public documents, showing 
the tone of the south — Extracts from the federal and state constitu- 
tioiii. — Extracts from the writings of Thomas Jefferson, - 146* 

No. vi r. 

The real sentiments of the abolitionists — Official statement of the 
officers of the American Anti-Slavery Society, - - 153 

No. VIII. 

Speech of Gcrrit Smith, Esq , in the meeting of the New- York 
Anti-Slavery Society, held at Peterboro', Oct. 22, 1835, - 157 

No. IX. 

Speech of Alvan Stewart, Esq.. delivered before the Anti-Slavery 
Convention, held at Utica, Oct. 21. 1835, - 1G6 

No. X. 

The names of five hundred witnesses, by whom the facts 
stated in this book can be verified, 175 



THE ENEMIES 



OF THE 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED, 



I. 



If, twelve months ago, some ardent friend of his 
country, endowed with the prophetic gift, or seeing 
the inevitable tendency of public measures, had 
foretold that the time was at hand when American 
citizens, before the eyes of the whole nation, should 
be seized and put to an infamous death without be- 
ing allowed the privilege of a legal trial, — if be had 
also foretold, that the mail of the United States, the 
great depository of the public secrets, one of the 
most important safeguards of our liberties, would 
be wrested from the custody of the constitutional 
authorities, plundered, and its contents committed 
to the flames, in violation of the public faith most 
solemnly pledged for its protection, — that the Post- 
master at the commercial metropolis of the nation 
would arrogate to himself the power of a censor, 
and, in violation of the laws of the land, and of 
the most sacred duties of his office, which he had 
sworn to perform, should detain in his custody 
publications committed to the charge of the depart- 
2 



10 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

ment, under the hairbrainecl pretence, that in his 
imagination they advocated sentiments which might 
prove of dangerous tendency ; and if he should have 
foretold, that such flagrant departures from the law 
and the constitution would meet with the approval 
of the highest functionaries of the national govern- 
ment ; and if he had also foretold, that within the 
short space of a year, the world was destined to be- 
hold in free and happy America — in the democratic 
state of New- York, a state convention, an assemblage 
of one thousand freemen, convened in the temple of 
the Most High, assailed with lawless violence, in- 
sulted, abused, and deprived of their constitutional 
rights, the freedom of speech, the right peaceably to 
assemble and deliberate upon subjects intimately 
concerning the welfare of their own beloved coun- 
try, and the liberty of the press at the same blow 
destroyed ; and that this foul blow, levelled at the 
root of liberty, would be struck by men high in 
power, by our judges and our representatives ; what 
faith would have been given to predictions so wild, 
and apparently so unlikely to be fulfilled ? All 
would have answered, Such things are not to be 
witnessed in America, until the names and the vir- 
tues of Washington and of Jefferson shall be for- 

o 

gotten. 

Yet these scenes we now behold. Invasions of 
jthc inalienable rights of freemen have become fami- 
liar ; we have become accustomed to sec the laws 
of our country and our beloved constitution tram- 
pled in the dust ; anarchy and civil discord begin to 
.show "their accursed heads." 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. II 

Not long since, at Vicksburg, a number of citi- 
zens of the United States were seized and executed 
without even the pretence of legal authority, con- 
trary to the express letter of the constitution of the 
United States, which declares, that " no person shall 
be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 
process of law." Acts equally inconsistent with the 
constitution and laws of our country have been mat- 
ters of every day occurrence, but have been regard- 
ed as comparatively of little moment, until they 
had gained the co-operation and sanction of men 
high in authority. 

On the 29th of July, 1835, when the United States 
mail arrived at Charleston, S. C, it was found to 
contain large quantities of the publications of the 
American Anti-slavery Society ; whereupon a num- 
ber of persons assembled about the exchange at be- 
tween the hours of ten and eleven at night, and with 
coolness and deliberation made a forcible entry into 
the post-office by wrenching open one of its win- 
dows, and carried off the packages containing these 
papers, and burnt them in a pile before the citadel. 
This flagrant violation of the laws of the United 
States, and of individual rights, soon after received 
the sanction of a large meeting of citizens, among 
whom was that arch nullifier, Robert Y. Hayne, 
who had before been engaged in an attempt to de- 
stroy the authority of the government of his coun- 
try. By this meeting a censorship of the press was 
virtually established, and a committee of twenty-one 
appointed to take charge of the United States mail. 
At this crisis the Postmaster at Charleston, contrary 



12 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

lo an express statute of the United States, and con- 
trary to the oath which he had taken to act in con- 
formity to such statute, arrogated to himself the 
power to detain in his custody the publications and 
papers on the subject of slavery, and asked for in- 
structions from the Postmaster General, which the 
duty of the latter required him to give. 

This extraordinary and illegal act of the Postmas- 
ter at Charleston, it was just!}' supposed, would 
meet with the unqualified condemnation of the Post- 
master General, and that he would, as his duty re- 
quired, immediately direct the Postmaster at Charles- 
ton to forward and deliver these papers to the per- 
sons entitled to them, and thus sustain the public 
confidence, so necessary to be reposed in this im- 
portant branch of our system, vindicate the supre- 
macy of the laws, and the authority of the national 
government. 

All men of intelligence could see that the act 
upon which Amos Kendall was called upon to give 
an opinion was unlawful, and of such dangerous 
tendency, as called for the loudest censure, and it 
is believed that such could net but* have been the 
almost unanimous judgment of the people in the 
non-slaveholding states, had not the act been sanc- 
tioned by some higher authority to which cringing 
office-seekers are accustomed to bow and sue for 
favours. 

It is unnecessary to inquire into the motives 
which actuated Mr. Kendall in making up his judg- 
ment upon the question referred to him ; it will be 
sufficient for the purpose of determining the degree 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 13 

of influence which his conduct ought to have upon 
the public mind, to present him in the following, 
strange predicament, in which he is placed by his. 
answer to the Postmaster at Charleston, bearing: 
date August 4, 1835.* 

After stating the case, he says, " Upon a careful 
examination of the law, I am satisfied that the Post- 
master General has no legal authority to exclude 
newspapers from the mail, nor prohibit their car- 
riage or delivery on account of their character or 
tendency, real or supposed. Probably it was not 
thought safe to confer on the head of an executive 
department a power over the press, which might be 
perverted and abused. But I am not prepared to 
direct you to forward or deliver the papers of which 
you speak." After recapitulating what the Post- 
master at Charleston had informed him respecting 
the papers in question, he says, " By no act or di- 
rection of mine, official or private, could I be in- 
duced to aid knowingly in giving circulation to 
papers of this description, directly or indirectly. 
We owe an obligation to the laws, but a higher one 
to the communities in which we live ; and if the 
former be perverted to destroy the latter, it is pa- 
triotism to disregard them." 

A most appropriate answer to Mr. Kendall's sen- 
timents was given in the New-York Evening Post, 
an administration paper, and one which has ever 
been uniform and unbending in the course it has 
pursued. These are its words : — " In giving place 
to the above letter, we cannot refrain from accom- 

* See Appendix, No. 1. 
2* 



14 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

panying it with an expression of our surprise and 
regret, that Mr. Kendall, in an official communica- 
tion, should have expressed such sentiments as this 
extraordinary letter contains. If, according to his 
ideas of the duties of patriotism, every Postmaster 
may constitute himself a judge of the laws, and sus- 
pend their operation, whenever, in his supreme dis- 
cretion, it shall seem proper, we trust Mr. Kendall 
may be permitted to retire from a post where such 
opinions have extensive influence, and enjoy his 
notions of patriotism in a private station. A pretty 
thing it is, to be sure, when the head officer of the 
Post-office establishment of the United States, and 
a member ex officio of the administration of the ge- 
neral government, while he confesses in one breath 
that he has no power to prevent the carriage or de- 
livery of any newspaper, whatever be the nature of 
its contents, declares in the next, that by no act of 
his, will he aid, directly or indirectly, in circulating 
publications of an incendiary and inflammatory cha- 
racter. Who gives him a right to judge what is in- 
cendiary and inflammatory ?' Was there any reser- 
vation of that sort in his oath of office ? Mr. Ken- 
dall has not met the question presented by recent 
occurrences at the south as boldly and manfully as 
we should have supposed he would. He has quailed 
in the discharge of his duty. He has truckled to 
rhc domineering pretensions of the slave-holders. 
In the trepidation occasioned by his embarrassing 
position, he has lost sight of the noble maxim — 
Fiat just if ia runt cceluffi. The course which, by 
neither sanctioning nor condemning the unlawful 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 15 

conduct of the Postmaster at Charleston, lie has vir- 
tually authorized him, and the other Postmasters at 
the south, to pursue, is neither more nor less than 
practical nullification. It is worse than that — it is 
establishing a censorship of the press in its worst 
possible form, by allowing every twopenny Post- 
master through the country to be the judge of what 
species of intelligence is proper to circulate, and 
what to withhold from the people. A less evil than 
this drew forth in former days r the Aeropagitica 
from the master mind of Milton; but we little 
dreamed that new arguments in favour of freedom 
of speech and of the press would ever become ne- 
cessary in our country." 

The insertion of the following letter, taken from 
the same paper which treats the subject with great 
ability, and has been the subject of much comment, 
will be exceedingly appropriate. 

TO THE POST MASTER GENERAL, 

Sir, A letter has just been published in the north- 
ern papers taken from the Richmond Whig, bearing 
date the 4th instant, and purporting to have been 
addressed by you to the Postmaster at Charleston. 
I wish there was reason to believe the publication 
unauthentic. The sentiments expressed in this 
communication are of too singular a character, ema- 
nating as they do from authority so high, to be 
passed over with the little attention as yet given to 
them. 

The Postmaster at Charleston, an agent appointed 
simply for the purpose of receiving and distributing 



If) THE ENEMIES OF THE 

communications through his office, receives pack- 
ages of papers addressed to private individuals, 
which he deems " inflammatory and incendiary — 
insurrectionary in the highest degree." I know not, 
in the first place^ how he arrived at this knowledge 
of the contents of sealed packets, unless by a viola- 
tion of his duty, which is certainly not to examine 
the contents of communications. But waiving the 
question as to the manner in which he obtained his 
information, instead of discharging his plain and 
positive duty, that of distributing them to such per- 
sons as should ask for them, he is intimidated by a 
mob, and resolves to write you for instructions. 
Your reply is the letter above alluded to. 

You commence by expressing yourself satisfied 
" that the Postmaster General has no le^al autho- 
rity to prohibit the delivery of newspapers on ac- 
count of their character or tendency real or suppos- 
ed : probably it was not thought safe to confer on 
the head of an executive department power over the 
press which might be perverted or abused." Pro- 
bably, as you say, sir, it was not. It is indeed pro- 
bable from an impartial survey of the history of this 
country that it was not intended or meant to make 
the Postmaster General, Censor of the Press. It 
is indeed probable that it was not meant to make 
him the sole arbiter of what intelligence should be 
transmitted among the people. You were safe, sir, 
in using the word " probably" Still you seem not 
altogether to have abandoned the idea, for you say 
" none of the papers detained have been forwarded 
to me, and I cannot judge for myself of their cha- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED- 17 

racier and tendency." — "Where do you find, sir, that 
papers must be forwarded to the Postmaster Gene- 
ral for his approbation ? Where do you find that 
he is to judge of the offensive or harmless bearing 
of what the people choose to write, print, and put 
in the public mails ? 

And yet although you disclaim the right for your- 
self, you go on to grant to your subordinate agent, 
who derives his official existence from you, the very 
same power. Excuse me, sir, if I say that this 
conduct is not so direct and straight forward as your 
previous career had led us to expect. You say, "I 
am not prepared to direct you to deliver the papers 
of which you speak. None of the papers detained 
have been forwarded to me. Your justification must 
be looked for in the character of the papers detain- 
ed, and the circumstances by which you are sur- 
rounded." That is to say, though I have no power 
to determine what shall or shall not be carried by 
the public mails, yet you, and every other Postmas- 
ter, in city, town, or village, may refuse to deliver 
any communication that you or he shall consider 
" inflammatory and incendiary — insurrectionary in 
the highest degree," and provided they are so, then, 
you have nothing to fear. And who shall decide 
that they are so ? Why of course the Postmaster 
General — the only superior of the Postmasters; and 
so, sir, in a round about away, you do in effect, con- 
stitute yourself what you in a former paragraph 
protested you could not be- — a Censor of ihe press. 

You say, " the Post-office was created to serve 
the people of each and all of the United States, and 



18 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

not to be used as the instrument of their destruc- 
tion." Sir, the Post-office was created for the trans- 
mission of intelligence, and its agents from the stage 
drivers up to the Postmaster General, have but one 
duty to perform, the regular transmission and deli- 
very of every thing put into the separate offices. — 
The moment this plain principle is lost sight of, 
that moment abuses will spring up at every step. 
Whig Postmasters will stop Jackson papers, Jack- 
son Postmasters will suppress whig papers, slave- 
holders will burn abolition documents, and aboli- 
tionists will destroy colonization manifestoes. The 
Charleston Postmaster had no more right to sup- 
press the mail from regard to the wishes of the citi- 
zens of that place, than the steamboat captain had 
to throw it overboard, and in winking at his imbe- 
cile conduct, you, sir, have established a dangerous 
"precedent 

You go oh, sir, in a still more illegal tone to say: 
" By no act, or direction of mine, official or private, 
could I be induced to aid, knowingly, in giving cir- 
culation to papers of this description, directly or in- 
directly. We owe an obligation to the laws, but a 
higher one to the communities in which we live, 
and if the former be perverted to destroy the latter, 
it is patriotism to disregard them." As to the first 
part of this paragraph, I have only to say, that it 
proclaims distinctly your determination not to per- 
form those duties of your office for which you were 
appointed, and which you have been sworn to fulfil. 
Is it possible, sir, that you have yet to learn that 
your office is purely ministerial, and that you have 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 19 

no supervision whatever over the communications 
transmitted through your office ? 

As to the latter part of the paragraph, it is a text 
fit for any homily on the blessings of anarchy and 
the good consequences of riot. What obligation is 
that we owe, sir, to the communities in which we 
live higher than that to the laws ? Is it the obliga- 
tion which the Vicksburgh planters have discharged, 
by murdering a score of their fellow-citizens, or is 
it the duty that the Baltimore mob is now fulfilling 
amid bloodshed and pillage and fire ? Sir, this sen- 
timent, if carried into effect, disorganizes the Post- 
office ; but that is not all — it sets a precedent of a 
loose and vicious construction of the social relations 
in every branch of life. 

I desire to believe that this letter was written, 
sir, under the influence of the excitement and alarm 
created by the riot at Charleston, but we had hoped 
from your previous career, that you were made of 
stuff too stern to be frightened from your propriety 
by so slight a cause. Depend on it, though this 
letter may find approbation among the prejudices 
and fears of the slave-holding communities, it will 
not be acceptable to the people of the northern 
states. They have prejudices too — prejudices in 
favour of freedom — in favour of untrammelled dis- 
cussion — of private right — of public law — these are 
the prejudices of the north, and it may not be alto- 
gether inexpedient to consult them. 

The frenzy of the abolitionists finds no echo here 
among our yeomanry ; but when we are told that 
our mails cannot travel without the permission of a 



20 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

committee of the citizens of Charleston, that our 
publications cannot be transmitted without a pass- 
port from the Postmaster General, and that we can- 
not discuss the questions of the government of the 
District of Columbia without being threatened with 
a dissolution of the Union, there is in all this some- 
what too much of the law of force, somewhat too 
much of bravado, to call forth the sympathy, com- 
mand the respect, or above all, excite the fears of 
us of the north." 

It is needless to say that these publications were 
of an ordinary character, addresssd to respectable 
citizens at the south, some of them masters of slaves, 
which they could have taken from the office or not 
as they chose. If they declined taking them, they 
could hurt nobody, whatever might be their charac- 
ter. But they advocated the immediate abolition of 
slaver} 7 . To say nothing of the expediency of this 
measure, the question, all will admit, is one of great 
public moment, and one upon which the philan- 
thropist, the Christian, and the statesman, have a 
right and ought to speak and write their sentiments ; 
well might it be contended, that publications 
advocating the election of Van Burcn, the recharter 
of the United States Bank, or the reduction of du- 
ties on imports, are incendiary and inflammatory, as 
that those which advocate the immediate emanci- 
pation of the slaves arc of that character. The 
truth is, these publications were neither calculated 
to produce excitement nor alarm, even at the south, 
had not a hue and cry been raised against them. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 21 

The public mind at the south was no doubt some- 
what exasperated on this subject ; but this state of 
feeling, it is plain to be seen, was almost wholly 
produced by the intermeddling of political dema- 
gogues, who demanded and endeavoured to obtain 
a surrender of the liberty of the press, for the ad- 
vancement of their ambitious schemes, And since 
the publication of the unprecedented sentiments 
contained in Mr. Kendall's letter, every effort has 
been used to produce the highest possible state of 
excitement, in order that the true character of the 
publications (as well as the laws and constitution) 
might be lost sight of, and in the heat of popular 
indignation condemned without a hearing. 

Veiy few in the now slave-holding states even 
imagined thai the publications referred to were in- 
flammatory or incendiary, or calculated to excite 
apprehension or alarm, until Mr. Kendall told them 
so. His conduct was not only uncalled for by the 
times, but calculated to produce inconceivable mis- 
chief. It was the signal for general law-breaking ; 
and it is not so surprising, that soon after Samuel 
L. Gouverneur, the Postmaster at New- York, should 
also have arrogated to himself the power to decide 
what information it is proper to send forth to the 
public, and have detained in his custody certain pub- 
lications of the Anti-slavery Society, and asked for 
the sanction of this same Amos Kendall, which 
he readily received in his letter bearing date Aug. 
22d, 1835.* 

* See Appendix, No. If. 
3 



22 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

It is unnecessary to give the words of this inex- 
plicable document. It sufficiently shows that Mr. 
Kendall had got into "a fog" in attempting to de- 
fine the powers of the general government, and of 
the states. He had undertaken a task, for which 
he was wholly unqualified ; such miserable sophis- 
try as he employs can have little weight upon in- 
telligent minds, though it may have misled the 
ignorant. 

The main point to be considered is, the sanction 
he gives Mr. Gouverneur for the illegal and danger- 
ous course which he had the rashness to adopt. 

The United States mail is the great depository of 
the public secrets, and cannot be violated under any 
pretence, without destroying all public confidence 
in it. The same principle which would justify a 
Postmaster in searching newspapers and periodicals, 
and detaining them under any pretence, would jus- 
tit v Ins opening, and searching, and detaining all 
sealed communications for the same purpose. There 
is no end to the abuses which would follow, but the 
end of the mail, this firmest safeguard of our liber- 
ties, which must inevitably follow the adoption of 
such sentiments by those wiih whom it is intrusted. 
Hut what is most extraordinary, Mr. Kendall admits 
the ad which he approves to be unlawful; and al- 
ihough Mr. Gouverneur had taken a solemn oath to 
act in conformity to law, he recommends to him to 
add to his crime perjury, and a perfidious abuse of 
the authority with which he was invested. In ordi- 
nary times, a man of .Mr. Kendall's abilities, assum- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 23 

ing such an unnatural position, would be looked upon 
as crazy. 

The following remarks are from the Hartford 
Times, another administration paper of long stand- 
ing, and the highest respectability : it has been uni- 
form and firm in its adherence to republican princi- 
ples, and its sentiments upon this, as upon all other 
subjects of public moment, are entitled to great 
weight. 

"A few weeks since Samuel L. Gouverneur, Post- 
master at New-York, assumed the power of inspect- 
ing the mails, and prohibiting a portion of the com- 
munity from exercising the privileges enjoyed by 
their countrymen and secured by the laws and con- 
stitution to every citizen. This officer of the law, 
has undertaken to make law, and although placed 
in the situation he occupies to serve the people, 
faithfully and impartially, he arrogantly sets him- 
self up to be master, and presumes not only to com- 
mand, but to deny, and imprudently invades the 
rights of a portion of the community. The class 
thus proscribed are the abolitionists, whose infatu- 
ated conduct cannot be too severely censured ; but 
who, nevertheless, have rights, and those rights 
ought not to be invaded or destroyed by Samuel 
L. Gouverneur, or any other individual, public or 
private. If the abolitionists are in error, and we 
hold they are, let calm unprejudiced reason set 
them right. It has been justly said by one of the 
wisest and soundest statesmen and philanthropists 
that the world has produced, that ' error of opinion 
may be safely tolerated, provided reason is left free 



24 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

to combat it.' Mr. Gouverneur thinks differently, 
and has violated the laws, disregarded his oath, in- 
vaded the freedom of speech and the press, and 
the rights of his fellow citizens, because he thinks 
himself correct and others wrong. He has appealed 
to the Postmaster General, and we lament that he 
has met with any countenance from that officer. 

" We publish the letter of the Postmaster General 
— and we do it with undisguised reluctance. It is 
indefensible in its positions, and such as we should 
never have expected from Mr. Kendall. We have 
little doubt that when the excitement of the moment 
shall have passed away, that Mr. Kendall will him- 
self consider this letter in its true light, and frankly 
confess his error. There are few men in this coun- 
try for whom we entertain a higher regard than 
Amos Kendall, and we have admired that stern, 
unbending Roman honesty, which has impelled him 
under trying circumstances, to discharge his duty 
with fidelity, and maintain the laws and constitution 
in their purity. This letter, however, is unworthy 
of him, and must be condemned by every intelligent, 
independent, and thinking freeman. He commences 
by telling Mr. Gouverneur there is no authority for 
the step he has taken — that it is illegal, and vet, in 
the next sentence he also tells him, 'if I wer< 
atcd as you arc, I would do as you have done.' Is 
this thi ge, the advice, the example of a high 

public functionary, the head of one of the most re- 
sponsible di nts in tlii^ gov< ■riniioiit ; And is 
it for a moment to be justified ! Certainly not. 

" We know that it is s'aid that this is an cxtraordi- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 25 

nary case. We admit that it is so. The proceed- 
ings and conduct of the abolitionists, we look upon 
as reprehensible in the highest degree, and have not 
hesitated, at all times, and on all occasions, to give 
them an unqualified condemnation. We have raised 
our voice against these reckless fanatics, and shall 
continue to do so on all proper occasions, for we 
feel it our duty, not only for the cause of our coun- 
try, but of humanity itself. Every friend of his 
country, and his race, ought, in our opinion, and in 
our earnest belief, to put forth his efforts to stay the 
incendiary and alarming proceedings of these few 
miserable, misguided and deluded beings who have 
embarked in this cause, without considering conse- 
quences, or studying the laws and constitution of 
their country. 

" But because we condemn these proceedings, 
shall we excuse doctrines and assumptions, not less 
alarming in another quarter ? God forbid. We can- 
not and will not justify any public officer in setting 
the laws at defiance, nor can we excuse the princi- 
pal who defends and upholds him. Mr. Kendall 
has done wrong. 

" There have been other excitements as well as 
this. Supposing at the time that nullification was 
at the threshold of rebellion, the collector at Charles- 
ton had come to the conclusion that he would not 
execute the laws, and refused to collect the duties 
on those articles that were taxed avowedly for pro- 
tection. Would the Secretary of the Treasury have 
been justified by saying to him, in that extreme 
case, ' if I were situated as you are, I would do as 
3* 



26 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



you have done ? If you violate the laws, or refuse 
to execute them, you shall meet with no reproof — 
and certainly shall not be removed by me V Would 
the Secretary of the Treasury have been justified 
had he taken such a step ? And yet it would have 
been as correct in him, as it is in Mr. Kendall. 

" But we have only glanced, briefly at this docu- 
ment, so far as the legal duties of these public offi- 
cers were concerned. The Postmaster at New- York 
refused to discharge his duty agreeably to the laws 
and to his oath, and the Postmaster General says, 
you have violated your trust, but ' if I were situated 
as you are, I would do as you have done.' Was 
there ever a greater dereliction of duty ? 

" There are, connected with this extraordinary 
proceeding, some alarming features. It is virtually 
establishing a censorship over the press, and re- 
stricting its freedom. There is not a press in this 
country free, if the Postmaster General shall be 
sustained in his positions. What press can open 
its columns to a free discussion of the question of 
slavery, without being liable to be thrown out of 
the mails by the Postmaster at New-York, under 
the sanction and approval of the Postmaster Gene- 
ral? Is this a state of things that can for one mo- 
ment be submitted to ? Never, never. Freedom 
is invaded in her citadel by this letter, and were it 
to be sanctioned, the fortress is sapped. 

11 We did net intend, when we commenced, to have 
written twenty lines, but the field is vast. Scarcely 
have we entered upon the subject, but our limits 
will not permit us at this time to say more. We 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 27 

are the less disposed to, because we have such con- 
fidence in Mr. Kendall, that we believe he will, on 
further reflection, and when the feverish excitement 
of the moment has subsided, retract the sentiments 
and doctrines, and positions here laid down. But 
if he shall not, or if sustained by others, we will not 
participate in this wrong, by defending or excusing 
the error, or even permitting it to pass in silence — 
the letter is taking a broad leap to anarchy — and is 
in itself subversive of the laws and the constitution. 
It is occupying ground that must never be conceded, 
while freedom has a home in our valleys, or liberty 
a resting place in our mountains." 

But Mr. Kendall's new principles are inapplicable 
to the present, or any other times, since the founda- 
tions of the world were laid. The curse of every 
government has been a disposition among its sub- 
jects to disregard its authority and violate its laws ; 
and never did the spirit of obedience and subordi- 
nation become so alarmingly prevalent in any coun- 
try, that it was necessary to proclaim from the high 
towers and battlements of the nation, that the laws 
were not supreme, but that these ought to be sacri- 
ficed to higher obligations. 

In a republican government, where the people 
themselves enact and change their laws at pleasure, 
so as to meet every emergency, the inconsistency 
of this doctrine, as well as its dangerous tendency, 
may be more clearly seen. It leads to the utter 
subversion of all order and legal authority, and the 
complete annihilation of government itself. 

Tiie people of the American colonies threw off 



28 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

the yoke of British oppression, because they were 
subjected to foreign power; laws were im-posed upon 
them, to which they had never in any manner as- 
sented ; the crown claimed the right " to bind them 
in all cases whatsoever," without their assent ; they 
had no representation or voice in the British coun- 
cils ; their humble petitions for relief, long conti- 
nued, were wholly disregarded ; no possible remedy 
therefore remained to them but to throw ofT the 
yoke of the oppressor. But to adduce this as a 
precedent to justify the citizens of a republic in vi- 
olating the laws which they themselves have enact- 
ed, and which they can abolish or modify at plea- 
sure, would discover a most culpable destitution of 
precision, and a degree of weakness that ought to 
warn the person affected with it never to engage in 
the argument of questions so grave and so impor- 
tant. 

The influence of this doctrine of Mr. Kendall is 
the more to be dreaded, as coming from the mouth 
of a high officer of the government, it is calculated 
to be extensive. The example of modern duel- 
ling was pet at the French court;* libertinism ori- 
ginated from the same source ; their origin gave 
them extensive influence ; they soon became uni- 
versally prevalent and dec]) rooted, and will pro- 
bably remain a lasting curse to the French nation. 

Catiline, in his attempt to subvert the Roman go- 
vernment, began by corrupting public sentiment. 
No government sinks at once from perfect freedom 

♦ h is said to have arisen from a angle combat in the reign of 
Henry II., ;it which Henry and his court were- present. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 29 

into absolute despotism. No tyrant seizes in an 
instant the reins of absolute rule over a free people, 
nor first exhibits the iron sceptre which is destined 
to oppress them ; but until he is secure in his au- 
thority, his voice is loudest in favour of liberty; 
and as a patriot and philanthropist, his professions 
distinguish him above all others. The assaults 
upon a nation's liberty are slow and gradual. Mea- 
sures are adopted, the result of which are certain, 
but the tendency of which can be seen by only a 
few, and that few sometimes interested to favour 
them. The nation is attacked in its weaker points ; 
at length at some favourable crisis, when some fa- 
vourite has gained unlimited confidence, and the 
tendency of measures is disregarded, the great pil- 
lars of its defence are removed under some specious 
pretext, and, like Sampson shorn of his locks, it 
becomes an easy prey to the enemies of liberty. 
Sometimes the sentiment is industriously diffused 
into the public mind, that the laws are not abso- 
lutely binding. This sentiment being most accept- 
able, is greedily adopted, and made applicable to 
every occasion where a large number of the people 
shall unite in trampling upon the constituted au- 
thorities of the land ; insurrections become frequent ; 
anarchy ensues ; the people become wearied with 
disorder and commotion, and gladly shelter them- 
selves under the wings of a despot. 

Let it not be supposed that mankind, in the pre- 
sent age, are essentially different in their natures 
from former times, or that man in America is not 
the same being, still subject to all the propensities 



30 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



and passions with man in Europe. Tyrants are 
as numerous in our beloved country as they were 
on the eastern continent in former days, but they 
are now in a measure powerless. It would be fool- 
ish indeed to suppose, that this country has not al- 
ways within its borders, as well as any other coun- 
try on the globe, political aspirants who are wailing 
occasion to usurp the reins of authority, and are re- 
joiced at, and gladly helping forward every measure 
that shall tend to anarchy. Neither let it be sup- 
posed, that a chair of state is more tolerable than a 
throne, if it be occupied by a Tyrant. It must 
have been seen that these remarks are intended to 
show, that we are not perfectly secure against the 
consequences of sentiments so pernicious as we 
have lately been accustomed to hear promulgated 
even from the very threshold of the capitol. 

" The constitution and its laws," says Vattel, 
" are the basis of the public tranquillity, the firmest 
support of the public authority, and pledges of the 
liberty of the citizen. But this constitution is a 
vain phantom, and the best of laws are useless, if 
they are not religiously observed. The nation ought 
then to watch very attentively, in order to render 
them equally respected by those who govern, and 
by the people destined to obey. To attack the con- 
stitution of the state, and to violate its laws, is a ca- 
pital crime against society, and if those guilty of 
it are invested with authority, they add to this crime 
a perfidious abuse of the authority with which they 
are intrusted. The nation ought constantly to sup- 
press these abuses with the utmost vigour and vi* 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 31 

gilance, as the importance of the case requires. It 
is very common to see the laws and constitution of 
the state openly and boldly opposed. It is against 

SILENT AND SLOW ATTACKS THAT THE NATION 
OUGHT TO BE PARTICULARLY ON ITS GUARD." 

But as detestable as Mr. Kendall's new sentiments 
would have been considered a short time before, and 
as they really are, after they were promulgated from 
such a source, and were supposed to have gained 
the approval of higher authority, they found nume- 
rous adherents ; and as they suited the purposes of 
many political aspirants, who are sustained by, and 
whose influence is exerted principally among that 
class of the community who are not scrupulous in 
their obedience to the laws, they were soon boldly 
and openly advocated. No wonder, then, that this 
sentiment had in a few days spread its ruinous in- 
fluence from one end of the country to the other, and 
that those restless spirits, who are restrained by no 
principle but fear, were let loose, and emboldened 
to deeds of violence. No wonder, that in a few days 
the law-breakers in Baltimore greedily adopted the 
sentiment, that " they owed a higher obligation to 
society than that they owed to the laws ;" and by 
their lawless depredations soon clothed that beauti- 
ful city with mourning, as an evidence that this obli- 
gation had been discharged. No wonder, that every 
day told the tale of similar violence in every part of 
of our country ; of our fellow-citizens tried, con- 
demned, and punished without the colour of law ; 
and that these violations of the constitution of our 
country, and the most sacred rights of freemen, met 



32 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

the co-operation and sanction of men of power and 
influence. 

The following narrative is adopted as particularly 
deserving to be preserved in some durable form, as 
its correctness has never been questioned to the 
author's knowledge. 

" As my name has obtained an unexpected noto- 
riety, I ask the public attention to my own account 
of the transactions that have given me celebrity. 

" On the first day of last month I left Cincinnati 
for the purpose of selling the " Cottage Bible," in 
order, from the profits of the sale, to raise funds 
sufficient to enable me to complete my education. 
The largest portion of my books was sent to Nash- 
ville by water. I took several copies of the Bible 
with me, besides a considerable number of the little 
work entitled " Six Months in a Convent." In 
packing them into my trunk and the box of my ba- 
rouche, a number of pamphlets ar.d papers of diffe- 
rent descriptions were used to pr< rent the books 
from injury by rubbing, intending to distribute them 
table opportunities should present. Among 
them were old religion apers, anti-slavery 

publications, numbers of the Missionary Herald, 
Sunday-school periodicals, temperance almanacs, 
&c. ^Vc A i Danville, Ky., where a State Anti- 
slavery Society had been organized some months 
before, and where the subject of emancipation 
seemed to be discussed without restraint, besides 
selling several copies of my hooks, I parted with a 
large share of my Anti-slavery publications. In 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. So 

travelling through that state, I distributed most of 
my temperance almanacs and other papers above 
mentioned, including a few tracts on slavery, given 
to those who were willing to receive them. I gave 
none of these to any person of colour, bond or free, 
nor had I any intention of doing so. 

" Near Gallatin, in Sumner county, Tennessee, I 
sold a copy of Rankin's Letters on Slavery. I ar- 
rived at Nashville, on Saturday the 18th of July, 
and took lodgings at the Nashville Inn. The young 
man who accompanied me, in bringing into the 
house my books from the box of the barouche, 
omitted the Anti-slavery tracts and other pamphlets. 
Their being overlooked did not occupy the atten- 
tion of either of us, and on Monday morning the 
barouche was taken to the shop of Mr. Stout to be 
repaired. In the course of the day Mr. Stout re- 
marked to his workmen, as he afterward informed 
me, that perhaps, as I came from Cincinnatti, I was 
an abolitionist. On this, one of them commenced 
rummaging my carriage. In the box he found, 
among the other pamphlets, a February number of 
the Anti-slavery Record, with a cut representing a 
drove of slaves chained, the two foremost having 
violins, on which they were playing — the Ameri- 
can flag waving in the centre, whilst the slave dri- 
ver, with his whip, was urging on the rear. This 
added considerably to the general excitement, which 
I afterward learned, was prevailing in relation to 
slavery — and in a short time it was noised about 
that I had been 'circulating incendiary periodicals 
among the free coloured people, and trying to ex- 
4 



34 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

cite the slaves to insurrection.' So soon as the re- 
port came to my knowledge, I went to Mr. Stout, 
and explained to him how it was that the pamphlets 
had been left in the barouche. I then took into my 
custody the remainder of them, and locked them up 
in my trunk. Mr. Stout, on this occasion, told me 
that the scene represented in the cut was one of by 
no means unfrequent occurrence — that it was ac- 
curate in all its parts, and that he had witnessed it 
again and again. Mr. Stout is himself a slave- 
holder, though, as he says, opposed to slavery in 
principle — a member, if not an elder, in the Pres- 
byterian church, and one of the committee of vigi- 
lance which afterward sat in judgment upon me. 

" The excitement continued to increase, and it was 
soon added to the report, that I had been posting up 
handbills about the city, inviting an insurrection of 
the slaves. Knowing all the charges to be false — 
feeling unconscious of any evil intention, and there- 
fore fearless of danger, I continued the sale of my 
Bible in and around the city, till Saturday, the 18th 
day of the month, when, as I was preparing to leave 
town to attend a camp-meeting, held some eight or 
ten miles distant, a Mr. Estell, formerly an auction- 
eer and vender of slaves, at public outcry, in Ala- 
bama, met me at the door and demanded ' those 
abolition documents' I had in my possession. I 
replied, he should have them, and proceeded to get 
them for him. When he made the demand he was 
under the influence of very highly excited feelings 
— his whole frame indicating agitation, even to 
trembling. On presenting the pamphlets, I re- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 35 

quested him to read before he condemned them. 
This seemed greatly to inflame his rage. 

" I then proceeded to the camp-ground, where, 
about two hours after my arrival, I was was taken 
in charge by Mr. Braughton, the principal city offi- 
cer. I take pleasure here, in stating of Mr. B., that, 
allowing his conduct to be strictly official, he exhi- 
bited to me, throughout the whole of this melancholy 
affair, the kindest and most delicate deportment. I 
immediately accompanied him to town, where, on 
arriving at my boarding-house, I found the mayor, 
Mr. John P. Erwin, waiting for us. He remarked, 
he was afraid I had got myself into difficulty, and 
wished me to appear before the Committee of Vi- 
gilance. To this I replied, it would give me plea- 
sure to do so, as I wished it understood just what I 
had done, and what 1 had not done. He then asked 
me if I had any witness I wished to have called. 
My reply was, I knew not what need I had of wit- 
nesses, till I had heard the charge brought against 
me — that I supposed it would be necessary to prove 
me guilty of some misdemeanor, and not that it 
should be upon me to prove that I had broken no 
law. To his demand, if I was ready for trial, I 
answered, I wished it to take place immediately, as 
I was anxious to return to the camp-ground. 

"We repaired to the court-room, which was at 
once crowded full to overflowing. The roll of the 
committee (60 in number) was called, and the names 
of the absentees proclaimed. 

" The meeting being called to order, the mayor 
stated, that he had caused me to be arrested, and 



36 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

brought before the committee, in consequence of 
the excitement produced by the periodicals known 
t.o have been in my possession ; and that he had 
also taken into his charge my trunk, which he had 
delayed opening until my return. The trunk was 
then produced before the committee, and a motion 
made and carried, that I should be interrogated as to 
its contents before opening it. On being interro- 
gated accordingly, I replied, as the trunk was be- 
fore them, I preferred they should make the exami- 
nation for themselves. It w T as then resolved, (the 
whole house voting) that my trunk should be ex- 
amined. The officer first laid before the commit- 
tee a pile of clothing, which was examined very 
closely — then followed my books, among which 
was found, one copy of the ' Oasis,' one of ' Ran- 
kin's Letters on Slavery,' and one of_ ' Bourne's 
Picture of Slavery in the United States.' These, 
I informed the committee, I had put in my trunk 
for my own perusal, as I washed to compare what 
had been written with tho result of my own obser- 
vation while in the slave states, and that no indi- 
vidual had seen them besides myself. A careful in- 
spection was made of the books also. Then was 
presented my business and private letters, which 
were read with eagerness, and much interest. Ex- 
tracts were read aloud. 

"Among them was one from a letter received from 
a very aged and venerable lady, running thus : — 
1 Preached a stream of abolition two hundred and 
fifty miles long,' in travelling from Cincinnatti to 
Cieaveland.. Great importance was attached to this. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 37 

Another spoke of the ' inconsistency of celebrating 
the 4th of July, while so many among us were lite- 
rally in bondage.' Another, from a letter of Mr* 
Ensign, (a gentleman well known to entertain ne 
very favourable sentiments for abolitionism) which, 
after urging me to diligence in the sale of my Bi- 
bles, (obtained from him) jestingly concluded, 'Now 
don't spend more than half your time among the 
niggers.' This was cheered by the crowd. The 
last was from the letter of a friend of mine, a minis- 
ter of the gospel, who remarked that on visiting his 
friends at the east, abolition had been the principal 
topic of conversation that day, and he had preached 
on slavery at night ! 

" Great stress, was laid on these extracts, and I 
was questioned very minutely, as to the authors of 
the letters. They laboured much to prove I was 
sent out by some society, and that I was, under the 
guise of a religious mission, performing the odious 
office of an insurrectionary agent. 

" My journal was next brought in review, but as 
it had been kept in pencil mark, the memoranda 
short and hastily written, it served them very little 
purpose. It was laid down again by the Mayor 
who had attempted to read it aloud with this re- 
mark — ' It is evidently very hostile to slavery.' 

"- A witness was now called forward by whom it 
was proved, that an Anti-slavery periodical of some 
kind had been left by some individual on the coun- 
ter of the Nashville Inn. That it was left with a 
copy of the Cottage Bible, at the time I arrived. 
On being questioned by me, it turned out to be a 
4* 



38 THE ENEMIES 07 TH-E 

number of the Emancipator, used as an envelope, 
or wrapper to the Bible, other witnesses were called, 
but this was the substance of all they proved against 
me. 

" It was conceded without hesitation on my pari', 
that I had sold a copy of ' Rankin's Letters,' in 
Sumner county, and that I had read to Mr. Cayce, 
at his request, the number of the ' A. S. Record' 
before mentioned, which he said contained nothing 
that any candid man, and especially any Christian 
could gainsay. The chairman of the committee 
asked me if I remembered the places where I had 
circulated Anti-slavery tracts. Thus, by the form 
of the question, as well as by the manner, making 
the impression I had circulated them somexoliere y 
and that the fact of my having done so was known 
to the committee. To this I replied that what I 
did, I did openlv — that I had not distributed any 
Anti-slavery publications whatever in Tennessee, 
except the one above mentioned, and that, if any 
had been found under circumstances calculated to 
throw suspicion on me, it was a device of my ene- 
mies. On being interrogated as to my former con- 
nexion with Lane Seminary, I informed the com- 
mittce that I had been a member of that institution 
as well as of the A. S. Society, formed there more 
than a year ago ; and that I had voluntarily with- 
drawn, and had received an honourable dismission 
from the same 

" A handbill was next produced, and I was asked 
if I had ever seen it. After having examined it, I 
replied I never had. I was then asked with strong 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 3'9 

emphasis, if I was sure I had never seen a copy of 
it. I again replied I was sure I never had. I was 
asked a third time, with a provoking and still 
stronger emphasis, if I was positively sure I had 
never seen any thing of the kind. I again took it 
into my hand and after examining it more minutely, 
again replied, I was positively sure I had never 
seen any thing of the land. The trial continued 
from between four and five o'clock, P. M. till eleven 
o'clock at night, when I was called upon for my de- 
fence. The perplexity I must have felt in making 
k may well be imagined, when it is recollected that 
I was- charged not with transgressing any law of 
the state or ordinance of the city, but with conduct 
to which, if the law had attached the penalty of 
crime, its forms were totally disregarded, and thi3 
too, before an array of persons banded together in 
contravention of law, and from whose mandate of 
execution there was no appeal. However, I took 
the opportunity thus offered to declare fully my sen- 
timents on the subject of slavery. Whilst I told 
them I believed slaveholding to be inconsistent with 
the gospel, and a constant transgression of God's 
law, I yet said, that in bringing about emancipation, 
the interests of the master were to be consulted as 
well as those of the slave. And that the whole 
scheme of emancipation contemplated this result, 
that the slave should be put in possession of rights 
which we have declared to be inalienable from him 
as a man ; that he should be considered as an im- 
mortal fellow being, entrusted by his master with 
the custody of his own happiness, and accountable 



40 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

to him for the exercise of his powers; that he should 
be treated as our neighbour and our brother. In 
reference to my demeanor towards the slave, that 
in the few instances in which I had casually con- 
versed with them, I had recommended quietness, 
patience, submission ; teaching them to ' render 
good for evil,' and discountenancing every scheme 
af emancipation which did not, during its process, 
look for its success in the good conduct of the slaves 
whilst they remain such, and to the influence of ar- 
gument and persuasion addressed to the understand- 
ings and consciences of slaveholders, exhorting them 
to obey God in doing justice and showing mercy to 
their fellow men. 

" After my remarks were ended,, the crowd were 
requested to withdraw whilst the committee delibe- 
rated on the case. In company with a friend or 
two I was directed to a private room near at hand, 
to await their decision. Up to this period during 
the whole proceedings my mind was composed, my 
spirits calm and unruffled ; nor did I entertain the 
most distant apprehension there would be so flagrant 
a violation of my rights as an American citizen, and 
so deliberate an attempt to dishonour me as a man. 

" In this confidence I was strengthened by the 
consideration of all the circumstances of the case. 
What I had done, I had done openly. There was 
no law forbidding what I had done. I had con- 
tracted no guilt that the law considered such — my 
intentions had been those of kindness to all — I had 
no secret feelings of guilt, arraigning me before the 
bar of my conscience for any mean or clandestine 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 41 

movement. In addition to this, too, among my tri- 
ers, there was a great portion of the respectability 
of Nashville. Nearly half of the whole number, 
professors of Christianity, the reputed stay of the 
church, supporters of the cause of benevolence in 
the form of Tracts and Missionary Societies and 
Sabbath-schools, several members, and most of the 
elders of the Presbyterian church, from whose hands, 
but a few days before, I had received the emblems 
of the broken body and shed blood of our blessed 
Saviour. My expectations, however, were soon 
shaken by Mr. Braughtoirs saying on entering the 
room where I was, that he feared it would go hard 
with me — that, whilst some of the committee were 
in favour of thirty-nine, others were for inflicting 
one hundred lashes, whilst others still thought me 
worthy of death. My suspense was at length ter- 
minated on being summoned to hear the decision ; 
it was prefaced by a few remarks of this kind by the 
chairman, ' that they had acted with great caution 
and deliberation, and however unsatisfactory their 
conclusion might be to me, they had acted consci- 
entiously, with a full recognition of their duty to 
their God' — that they had found me guilty, 1st, 'of 
being a member of an Anti-slavery Society in Ohio : 
2d, of having in my possession periodicals pub- 
lished by the American Anti-slavery Society : and 
3d, ' they believed I had circulated these periodi- 
cals and advocated in the community the principles 
they inculcated.' He then pronounced that I was 
condemned to receive twenty lashes on my bare 
back, and ordered to leave the place in 24 hours. 



42 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

[This was not an hour previous to the commence- 
ment of the Sabbath.] 

The doors were then thrown open, and the crowd 
admitted. To them it was again remarked, that 
1 the committee had been actuated by conscien- 
tious motives ; and to those who thought the pun- 
ishment too severe, they would only say, that they 
had done what they, after mature deliberation, 
thought to be right; and to those who thought it 
too UgJitj they must sa}', that in coming to their 
decision the committee had regarded not so much 
the number of stripes, as the disgrace and infamy 
of being publicly whipped.' The sentence being 
again repeated, it was received with great applause, 
accompanied by stamping of feet and clapping of 
hands. 

" The chairman then called for the sentiments of 
the spectators in reference to their approbation of 
the decision of the committee, desiring all who were 
satisfied with it, and would pledge themselves that 
I should receive no injury after the execution of the 
sentence, to signify it in the usual way. There was 
no dissenting voice. 

"The chairman then expressed in terms border- 
ing on the extravagant, his high gratification of the 
sense of propriety that had been manifested in the 
conduct of the meeting, and that so much confidence 
was placed in the committee. The crowd was now 
ordered to proceed to the public square, and form a 
ring. 

" I had been assured that my trunk, with all its 
contents, as they were taken out, should be returned 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 43 

to me. But while the crowd were leaving the 
house, Mr. Hunt, editor of the Banner, and, as I am 
informed, an emigrant from New-England, where 
he was born, set himself busily to work to secure in 
his own hands my journal, sketch-book, business, 
and private letters, &c. 

" By no one concerned in the whole proceeding 
was there so much exasperated feeling shown as by 
Mr. H. It was now displayed in the pale, death- 
like countenance, the agitated frame, the hurried, 
furious air with which he seized the papers, and 
tied them up in his handkerchief, clinching them in 
his hands, and at the same time eyeing me with an 
intense yet vacant gaze, bespeaking not only rage, 
but a consciousness of doing wrong. Of my papers 
I have heard nothing since Mr. H. took them into 
his custody. 

" I entered the ring that had been formed ; the 
chairman (accompanied by the committee) again 
called for an expression of sentiment in relation to 
the sentence passed upon me ; again the vote was 
unanimous in approbation of it, and again did he 
express his gratification at the good order by which 
the whole proceeding had been characterized. 
While some of the company were engaged in strip- 
ping me of my garments, a motion was made and 
seconded that I be exonerated altogether from 
the punishment. This brought many and furious 
imprecations on the mover's head, and created a 
commotion which was appeased only by the sound 
of the instrument of torture and disgrace upon my 
naked body. 



41 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

"I knelt to receive the punishment, which was in- 
flicted by Mr. Braughton, the city officer, with a 
heavy cowskin. When the infliction ceased, an in- 
voluntary feeling of thanksgiving to God for the 
fortitude with which I had been enabled to endure 
it arose in my soul, to which I began aloud to give 
utterance. The death-like silence that prevailed 
for a moment, was suddenly broken with loud ex- 
clamations, ' G — d d — n him, stop his praying.' I 
was raised to my feet by Mr. Braughton, and con- 
ducted by him to my lodging, where it was thought 
safe for me to remain but for a few moments. 

"And though most of ray friends were at the 
camp ground, I was introduced into a family of 
entire strangers, from whom I received a warm 
reception, and the most kind and tender treatment. 
They will ever be remembered with grateful emo- 
tions. 

" On the ensuing morning, owing to the great ex- 
citement that was still prevailing, I found it neces- 
sary to leave the place in disguise, with only what 
clothing I had about my person. Leaving unsold 
property to the amount of nearly three hundred dol- 
lars, and sacrificing at least two hundred on my ba- 
rouche, horse, &c, which I was obliged to sell. Of 
my effects at Nashville, I have heard nothing since 
my return, though I have frequently written to my 
friends concerning them. 

"AMOS DRESSER.* 

" Cincinnati, Aug. 25, 1835." 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 45 

This monstrous violation of the constitution of the 
United States, it must not be forgotten, was com- 
mitted, not by a gang of drunkards, or by those who 
are ignorant of their duties and obligations ; neither 
was it perpetrated in the heat of passion, but coolly 
and deliberately by a committee of sixty individuals, 
some men of note. If no men of character had 
been engaged in it, it Would have been compara- 
tively of little moment ; but as the case is, the 
example for all men to violate the law, which had 
before been set has gained greater influence. At 
such an indignity, committed in almost any country 
in Europe, " ten times ten thousand swords would 
have leaped from their scabbards." 

But this is not all ; it is well known that the sen- 
timent, that we are subject to higher obligations than 
those which we owe to the laws, has become so 
prevalent, that no man who is an abolitionist can 
travel in the southern states, on his lawful business, 
without endangering his personal safety.* Nay, the 
safety of our own citizens, of the non-slaveholding 
states, is endangered by hired ruffians who have 
been employed to transport them to a distant state, 
to be condemned and put to death for no crime but 
for exercising the inalienable rights of man. The 
following advertisement will speak for itself: — 

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CHARLESTON COURIER. 
Beaufort, (S. C.) Aug. 13, 1835. 

" Gentlemen, — I am directed by the society of 
which I am the corresponding secretary, to request 

* See Appendix, No. VI. 



46 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

you to publish, for a few times, the following re- 
solve : — 

"'At a meeting held this day, Saturday, the loth 
August, Judge Lynch presiding, it was resolved 
by a large majority, that the sum of two thousand 
dollars will be paid by this society to whomsoever 
will deliver to the respective chairmen of these so- 
cieties, in Georgetown, Charleston, Beaufort, Sa- 
vannah, Augusta, or Darien, the bodies of either of 
the four well-known incendiaries among the north- 
ern abolitionists, or that of their late visiter.'* 

" VERITAIN, Sec? 

The four individuals referred to are the editors of 
anti-slavery publications ; and the above adver- 
tisement is a fair specimen of the mode of argument 
which is employed to refute their doctrines. O 
Reason ! whither art. thou fled, when brutal force, 
malignant hate, and dire revenge, usurp thy sway ? 

In the southern states, it cannot be denied, the 
public mind is highly excited against the abolition- 
ists ; and while we cannot too much condemn the 
violent and unwise conduct of some of the southern 
people, we should take care, and trace this excite- 
ment to its true source. 

It must not be supposed, that so much concern is 
manifested about the movements of the abolitionists, 
without some political end in view. It is among 
the friends o! .Mr. Van Buren that the most violent 
opposition to the abolitionists exists ; and although 
the leading men of his parly declaim against uniting 

* This advertisemen! was published in the southern papers. Many 
others of a similar character Save appeared in the public journals of 
the south with approbation. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 47 

the question with politics, yet opposition to the abo- 
litionists (until after the election) is already an ar- 
ticle in their creed. This will be seen by referring 
to the resolutions adopted by their conventions, as 
well as the uniform course of most of the leading 
partizans. Now it is plain to be seen, that the de- 
sign of all these movements is to quiet the fears of 
the south, and gain their support; because the course 
which the party have recently pursued is utterly at 
variance with the fundamental principles of demo- 
cracy. Some of these leading partizans are capable 
of any deception and fraud, which will subserve their 
views. 

Will the southern people be so foolish as to sup- 
pose, that the same course of measures respecting 
the question of slavery, which are now adopted for 
the purpose of promoting Van Buren's success, are 
to be carried out after his election ? If they are, they 
will be sadly disappointed. His speech at the Her- 
kimer Convention, as well as his uniform declara- 
tions heretofore made, will undeceive them on this 
subject, if they are now deceived. 

It is high time that the inhabitants of the north 
and the south understood the deception that is at- 
tempted to be practised upon them. If it should 
be said that these political movements are sustained 
by some whigs, the answer is, that every instrument 
which can be of any service will be used* 

* The author would not be understood as being opposed to Mr. 
Van Buren's election. He intends only to protest against the base 
deception which is practised toward the south, and against sacri- 
ficing the liberties of the whole nation to promote his success. Cort- 



48 THE ENEMIES OF THE 



IT. 



After having said thus much respecting the 
cause of the excitement upon the subject of slavery, 
and the origin of the propensity to violence that 
now prevails, one important feature of the Lynch 
Law system ought not to be passed over in silence. 

All who have been conversant with the subject 
must have observed that in most cases of late, the 
law breaking, or proceedings of Judge Lynch has 
been carried on in the most systematic manner, with 
all possible regularity and solemnity. The pro- 
ceedings is on this wise. A meeting of citizens is 
called, at which care is sometimes taken to have a 

large number of boys and drunkards, enough to con- 
stitute a clever mob who are read}- to set up a roar 
of laughter, cheering, hissing, or yelling at the signal 
of their leader; when this class attend, every thing 
is carried by them, and nobody observes whether 
the voices come from the rabble, or from respectable 
citizens: of course the proceedings are ascribed tore- 
spectable citizens. The most inflammatory speeches 
are then made, and the rabble understand well that 
their duty is to act according to the spirit of the 
speeches, and not according to the letter of the re- 
ined is purchased at too dear a rate when we have to give up every 
tiling valuable in life to obtain it. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 49 

solutions, because these being matters of record 
must necessarily be more temperate. It must be- 
fore have been observed that the officers of Judge 
Lynch never act in discharge of those inferior ob- 
ligates ivhich we owe to the constitution and the 
laws, Hut only of the higher obligations which we 
owe to society. 

After the public mind has been excited to the 
highest pitch and the rabble have become phrensied 
with rage and desperation, so that they are ready to 
rush madly upon whatever design the chief mover has 
in view, in order that the design of violating the laws 
of the land and the rights of citizens, may be ac- 
complished in the most genteel and unsuspicious 
manner, a committee consisting of a large number 
of citizens, (some drawn unconsciously into the 
snare) is appointed who advance with professions of 
pacific intentions, either preceded or followed by 
the rabble to the spot where the violence is to be 
committed, and after having communicated their 
message, if the rabble do not yet seem disposed to 
second their views with a sufficient degree of fury 
and madness, another inflammatory speech is offered 
by some one of the committee, generally by the 
chief mover, in which the rabble are taught in this 
wise ; " Fellow citizens, (order ! order ! ) we are the 
peaceable citizens assembled here to show our in* 
dignation at the vile and unpardonable insult which 
has been offered us {by some notorious drunkard 
and rioter; " yes, we are the peaceable citizens?} 
" These occasions will find a law for themselves," I 
hope there will be no violence used, but if there 
5* 



50 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

should be, Fellow citizens, we are not responsible ; 
we came here as peaceable citizens, upon the heads 
of those who have insulted us be all the blame ; 
They have been so foolhardy as to brave public 
opinion, and they must take the consequences r 
(by the rabble, " yez, squire's spressed our minds 
'zackly ; they must take the consequences, they are 
responsible, hoop ! hoop ! hussle urn out ! hussle um 
out !' damn um t down with the hypocrites and fana- 
tics ! tear um f string um !") At this stage of the 
proceedings the air resounds with continued yells, 
and the authority of the committee themselves feign- 
ing an effort to be heard, crying " order ! order ! we 
are the peaceable citizens, " is completely nullified. 
After the Lynching is finished, the committee re- 
turn to the meeting that appointed them, followed by 
their constituents, u the peaceable citizens" and re- 
port their doings ; the chairman congratulates the 
meeting upon the accomplishment of their object 
in a peaceable manner, with as little violence as. 
wastobeepxectcd,consideringthe excited stateof the 
public mind, and although some little disorder en- 
sued after arriving at the place of action, which the 
committee were unable to prevent, yet the committee 
do not hold themselves or their reputations responsible 
tor any mischief that was committed ; the infatuated 
wretches who had been thus signally dealt with, had 
brought this mischief upon themselves, and the preser- 
vation of their lives and their persons from further 
injury, they owed solely to the interference and exer- 
tions of the committee in their behalf ; " (by the mob 
from all quarters, " yez, dam um ! they'd orter be 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 51 

thankful that they got off so well, three cheers for the 
committee !") Here the mob set up a stamping and 
yelling which makes the earth itself tremble beneath 
them. Whereupon the meeting after conferring 
certain discretionary powers upon its officers ad- 
journs, and while the " committee" retire to their 
homes and are industriously engaged in preparing 
communications for the public journals in order ta 
forestall public opinion, the " peaceable citizens" 
assemble together in small squads at the groceries 
in different parts of the city, where orders are some- 
times given, by some higher in the scale of being 
than they, that intoxicating liquors shall be dealt out 
to them in large quantities without money and with- 
out price. Here plans are concerted by the leading 
ones who themselves take the precaution to keep 
sufficiently sober for the transaction of business, for 
a nightly session of the Terrific Tribunal, and it 
not unfrequently happens that a terrible scene of de- 
vastation and bloodshed follows the footsteps of its 
officers. When matters have progressed thus far, 
the pacific intentions of these "peaceable citizens"' 
are seriously distrusted, and an appeal is made to 
another class of citizens less peaceable, less patri- 
otic, less virtuous, but who have property and cha- 
racter to preserve ; sometimes the chief movers of 
the " patriotic and peaceable committee " offer their 
assistance to protect the lives and property which 
their conduct has placed in jeopardy, but this is 
usually rejected with disdain, and here the proceed- 
ings end. 

Sometimes a few of tire principal officers of Judge 



52 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

Lynch are called to an account by Judge Law, but 
their bond of indemnity is brought into requisition 
and their fines are instantly discharged, even in case 
the latter judge should be so fortunate as to find that 
his chief officers have not superseded their func- 
tions by an appointment under the former. 

If the people happen to suspect the honourable 
the committee of any participation in the proceedings, 
their sins are laid upon the heads of the " scape- 
goats," which immediately run away into the wil- 
derness, and are seen no more, until a similar occa- 
sion calls them forth from their hiding-places. 

We have seen the principal features which dis- 
tinguish the calm, peaceable, and deliberate system 
of law-breaking of the present day, and by taking 
care to keep them in view hereafter, we shall be 
enabled to detect the fallacious pretences with which 
it is too frequently excused or palliated, and to dis- 
cover its authors from beneath the cloaks with which 
they are covered. But it must not be forgotten that 
it has been reduced to a complete system ; that its 
perpetrators have acquired great tact, and that their 
designs arc usually involved in a degree of mystery, 
which will require the utmost vigilance of the friends 
of order to devclope them. 

It would be strange indeed if the abettors of vio- 
lence should act openly, especially those who desire 
to preserve an influence in the community; and it 
would be equally strange if a considerate mind should 
judge a man to be honest, because he is covered 
with a mask. He would look at causes, and their 
necessary consequences. In judging of a man's 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



53 



character in this respect, he will carefully observe 
whether he has avoided the very first appearance of 
evil; whether he has always been seen in the com- 
pany of the peaceable and the orderly, and has firmly 
and manfully. refused in any manner to participate in 
proceedings which are calculated to excite the fury 
of the mob ; and whether he has stood up and boldly 
and fearlessly condemned every attempt to infringe 
in the least degree the constitutional or legal rights 
of his fellows. 

"Birds of a feather flock together," is an old 
adage, applicable to men as well as to other animals. 
Whom do the mob follow to the place of violence ? 
to whose voice do they most attentively listen ? 
Mark that man, and if he addresses the populace, 
consider the tendency of his language and conduct, 
and not his professions of pacific and honest inten- 
tions. See who are associated with him. ^g mQ ^ 
are wise in £*? ~l7^cl, ana iney always have old, 
practised leaders, notable only for their crimes, to 
instruct and lead them forward, according to the de- 
signs of the chief movers : they imbibe the spirit of 
inflammatory speeches, act accordingly, and know 
full well that the peaceable professions, which must 
necessarily accompany them, are to be disregarded. 
They remember that. the speaker has a character to 
preserve by his false professions. Let the people 
be as wise as the mob, and they will easily discover 
who are the chief movers of riots. 



54 THE ENEMIES OF THE 



III. 



One other violation of the laws of our country, 
and of the constitutional rights of our fellow-citizens, 
will be adverted to : it is, perhaps, more alarming 
in its features than any which the friends of our sys- 
tem of government have heretofore been called upon 
to witness, and the more dangerous in its tendency, 
on account of the characters engaged in it, and the 
specious disguises under which the most diligent 
efforts have been employed to justify or extenu- 
ate it. 

Allusion is here had to the forcible breaking up 
of the State Convention assembled at Uuca, 0< 
21st, 1835, the seizure of their papers, and the as- 
saults upon its members, committed upon them after 
they were dispersed, at their lodgings, and while 
travelling upon their lawful business upon the pub- 
lic highway. 

'W ith regard to the sentiments of the Convention, 
the author does not deem it his duty to speak. It 
is sufficient that they were there lawfully assem- 
bled, to deliberate upon a subject in which, as lovers 
of their country and its constitution, they felt a deep 
interest. In this respect, it is believed, all but vile 
slanderers will accede to them honest and laudable 
intt ntions, and as pure and patriotic motives, as ac- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 55 

tuated the immortal ■■ Jefferson himself, when he ex- 
claimed, in reference to the evil of slavery — " I 
tremble for my country when I remember that God 
is just, that his justice cannot sleep for ever? 

Previous to the call of this Convention, assem- 
blages of the inhabitants of many of the cities in the 
United States had been had, in which the citizens 
(in most cases a majority of them, it is presumed) 
had expressed their decided disapprobation of the 
sentiments of the abolitionists. The proceedings of 
many of these assemblages are characterized by a 
degree of moderation which does great credit to 
those from whom they emanated. So far every thing 
was carried on fairly on both sides of the question. 

The abolitionists, by the laws of nature, as well as 
by the constitution of their country, and their oppo 
nents, had an equal right to talk about slavery, which 
they both exercised, each expressing their own pe- 
culiar sentiments. At length, it was discovered by 
certain political aspirants, that the manner in which 
the abolitionists talked on the subject of slavery 
would not at all subserve their ambitious schemes ; 
so measures must immediately be taken to engross 
to themselves the liberty of speech on this subject, 
in order that it might he properly exercised, and the 
abolitionists deprived of the right to speak any more 
upon the subject, unless they would speak on their 
side of the question. 

The subject was accordingly taken up by them 
in good earnest, and discussed in so loud and bois- 
terous a tone that they hoped to smother the voice 
of the abolitionists altogether. The latter, however, 



56 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

were " so foolhardy" as to claim the right to think 
and speak for themselves after all, and moreover 
many were embracing their sentiments ; they were 
now denounced as misguided zealots, deluded fana- 
tics, and reckless incendiaries, and many who had 
" eaten oread with them lifted up their heels against 
them." Nay, they were accused of entertaining 
schemes hostile to the constitution, and subversive 
of the long acknowledged rights of the people of 
the south. So industrious were these bawling poli- 
ticians, and so extensively were their misrepresen- 
tations, and slanders disseminated, that the jealousies 
of the southern people, who had not taken the 
trouble to inform themselves in relation to the real 
sentiments of the abolitionists, but judged from the 
representations of their adversaries, were, to a con- 
siderable degree awakened. 

Next comes the protest of the south ; then the 
cry The Union is endangered by the movements of 
the abolitionists ; inflammatory speeches are every 
where made against them, and as they were not al- 
lowed by the agitators to vindicate their characters 
from reproach, or their sentiments upon the subject 
of slavery from calumny and falsehood; the very 
gist of the opposition, being to deprive them of the 
right to discuss the subject in any shape, it is no 
wonderthal in a little time a high degree of excite- 
mentwasevery where created against them. Though, 
as no argument had yet been found which could 
prevail against them, they must be put down at all 
hazards, "peaceably if possible, forcibly if neces- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 57 

-$nry, 3? with regard to them it was " 'patriotism to 
disregard the laws" 

This doctrine, however, must be cautiously exer- 
cised, and until it should become a little more fa- 
miliar under some plausible pretext. The consti- 
tution after all seemed to secure to the abolitionists 
in common with others, liberty of speech and thus 
prima facie at least to interpose an obstacle against 
the use of any means which should deprive them 
of the use of that liberty. 

At last Kendall himself was out done, and 
amongst the wise and judicial sophists the much 
looked for discovery was made that there were "Pru- 
dential Restrictions" upon this liberty, so far as 
the abolitionists were concerned, and every obstacle 
being thus removed, they were condemned to ever- 
lasting silence. Nothing now remained but to en- 
force these " Restrictions." Previous to the call of 
the State Convention referred to, a meeting of the 
citizens of Utica was holden at the court room, in 
which their decided opposition to the sentiments of 
the abolitionists was expressed. This meeting was 
of course composed of the Anti- Abolitionists which 
compose a large majority although there was a con- 
siderable number of the most respectable citizens 
who were abolitionists. The resolutions although 
somewhat denunciatory were in other respects tem- 
perate and dignified. And it was exceedingly to be 
regretted, that the Hon. Samuel Beardsley should 
have employed the occasion to promulgate senti- 
ments that were calculated to produce the conse- 
quences which the citizens of that place were after- 
6 



58 THE ENEMIES GF THE 

ward called upon to deplore. He took occasion to 
speak of the violent and unwarranted seizure of the 
U. S. mail at Charleston, and the burning of the anti- 
slavery papers by the mob, and to justify in express 
words this cross violation of the law. " These oc- 
casions, " said he, " will find a law for themselves. 
I go revolution when it is necessary ." And in again 
adverting to the sending abolition publications to the 
southern states he remarked, " if other means will 
not do" (to prevent the sending such papers to the 
south) " the mail should be blocked up on that sub- 
ject." These revolutionary sentiments were boldly 
and manfully opposed by J. A. Spencer, Esq. who 
had participated in the proceedings, and who de- 
servedly received great and almost universal applause 
for his conduct on that occasion. The efTect of these 
sentiments, however, could not be easily counteract- 
ed. Among a certain class of the community where 
Mr. Beardsley's influence is principally exerted they 
were quickly adopted, and "Judge. Lynch" may.be 
considered to have been then first formally intro- 
duced into the beautiful city of Itica. Subse- 
quently a State Convention of abolitionists was ap- 
pointed to be holden at that place, and the citizens 
opposed tothem were again assembled at the city hall 
at which meeting the .Mayor presided. Mere a strong 
and decided opposition to the holding of the conven- 
tion at that place was expressed, and although some of 
the resolutions, had they been less denunciatory, 
would have done more credit to those by whom they 
were brought forward, and would better have com- 
ported with the candour and moderation of the citi- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 59" 

sens, yet the proceedings with exceptions only rela- 
ting to individuals, were mainly carried on with or- 
der and decorum. The meeting was addressed by 
the Hon. C. Hayden and William Tracy, Esq.; the 
latter while he would tell the people of the south 
that they were ready to go to their very firesides if 
necessary to protect them in the enjoyment of their 
rights, and while he would boldly, but kindly entreat 
the abolitionists to desist from their movements, still 
contended for the right of free discussion. " It is 
that, " said he, "for which our fathers bled" Judge 
Hayden entered into a metaphysical disquisition on 
the subject of slavery too refined for a work in which 
only simple and plain truths within the comprehen- 
sion of all are intended to be stated. Hon. Samuel 
Beardsley was of course present and remarked as 
follows : — ■ 

" It is but a short time since a numerous and" 
"respectable number of the citizens of Utica 
" expressed their sentiments on the subject before 
" us this evening. The views of this city have gone 
"forth on the subject, as well as of other cities and 
"numerous assemblages in this state. As far as 
"the sentiment of the free states have been deve- 
loped, there is the same sentiment against the 
"movements of the abolitionists. It is great and 
" overwhelming, and we trust will soon put a stop 
" to their fanning the embers of the south. 

" We have spoken audibly and intelligibly to our 
" brethren at the south, and to those around us. But, 
" sir, what have we witnessed since the simultane- 
11 ous expression of the citizens of this city, but an. 



i THE ENEMIES OF THE 

"act of the most consummate foolhardiness ! Sir? 
"for what purpose has a State Convention been 
" called ? To promote the objects they have in view. 
" Sir, what are those objects ? Mainly to bring about 
"the immediate abolition of slavery at the south. 
" They seem like downright idiots. No man, in 
"his sober senses, can doubt that every movement 
"of this kind, instead of elevating the condition of 
" the slaves, renders their condition more degraded, 
" debased, and oppressive than before. It has here- 
" toforc been, and the constant tendency is, to re- 
" cluce the slave still lower, and make him more a 
" slave than he was before. It is clear that this is 
"the tendency of the efforts of the abolitionists. 

" I do not believe that a man can, with an honest 
"heart, with a sound and intelligent mind, take such 
" measures, and entertain a belief, or even an expec- 
tation, that the}^ will produce any share of the ob- 
"jects which he professes to have in view. And 
" why are these abolitionists intent on holding a con- 
" vention in this city to promote their designs ? It 
" is intended to insult us. It is intended to degrade 
" the character of the city in the esteem of the world. 
"And especially to us, who live here, to treat us 
" with the utmost contempt. Insult us to our faces 
" where they cannot muster a corporal's guard, 
" They, sir, in contempt of the open, public, and 
" express sentiment of this community, come here 
" to hold a disgraceful and scandalous assembly, to 
"rush in and insult us to our faces with an assem- 
" blage of this kind. 

" If we were not a peaceable people, perhaps they 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 61 

" might have an excuse for such downright hardiness. 
" They will be treated civilly, I doubt not, by the 
" citizens of Utica. Not because they deserve it, 
" but because it is due to the reputation of the city. 
" They cannot claim- that they deserve to escape 
"castigation. 

" These are the objects of these men. The laws 
" of propriety forbid that they should come here. 
" We are to be picked out as the head-quarters of 
"Abolitionism in the state of New-York. As have 
"this, I would almost as soon see it (the city) 
" swept from the face of the earth, or sunk as low 
"-as Sodom and Gomorrah. Nothing is due to 
" these men if they come here. 

" The abolitionists are resolved to press forward 
"with their designs, and thus endanger the south 
" and our institutions. So a man may contend that he 
"has a right to smoke a cigar in my powder-house. 
"The inevitable tendency is to sunder the union. 
" They intend to hold their meeting in this city, and 
" form a State Societ)^. It is designed to fix a deep 
" and dark stigma on our name. It is to be recorded 
"in history that we are the head-quarters of Abo- 
" tion. I wish, sir, they would not select this as the- 
"place of their meeting. 

" It is but a day or two since I saw the names of 
"five or six clergymen about Albany, who have- 
" stated that their names were employed without- 
"authority. Many have said that their names were 
"'used without authority, though they do not come 
" out and announce it to the world. The question 
" is, whether the peace of this union shall be dis~ 



62 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

"turbed or not, and whetlier we are to be thus de 
"graded and disgraced." 

At a Republican County Convention, held at 
Hampton (Oneida Co.) Oct. 15, 1835, among other 
resolutions the following was adopted : — 

"Resolved, That the citizens of Utica owe it to 
" themselves, to the state, and to the union, that the 
" contemplated Convention of incendiary individuals 
"is not permitted to assemble within its corporate 
" bounds ; that their churches, their court,, academy, 
" and school-rooms, be closed against these wicked 
" or deluded men, who, whatever may be their pre- 
hensions, are- riveting the fetters of the bondman, 
"and enkindling the flames of civil strife."* 
i 

Similar resolutions and sentiments were adopted 
by conventions in other counties; and the enforce- 
ment of the "prudential restrictions " against the 
abolitionists may now be considered to have become 
a party measure ; but as this unconstitutional cru- 
sade against the liberty of speech was a manifest 
departure from democratic principles, it was fore- 
seen that the firmest adherents of these principles 
could not easily be betrayed into the measure, and 
it was justly apprehended that they would be unwil- 
ling to make a sacrifice of principle, which, what- 
ever might be the temporary effect, must ultimately 
prove ruinous to the republican cause. 

To provide against these emergencies, the most 
assiduous care is taken by those interested, to urge 

• This was brought forward nnd adopted on motion of J. D. Le- 
land, County Clerk. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 63 

strict adherence to "party usages" which is now- 
pretty well understood to mean, that whatever pro- 
jects a few cunning leaders shall propose, must be 
sustained by their adherents (for the great body of 
their supporters have little more control over their, 
own destinies than cattle, which are bought and sold), 
at all hazards. Nay, many professing great know- 
ledge of " party usages," have declared, that if the 
devil himself were nominated for office, "the party" 
would be bound to yield him their cordial support. 
The good of " the party" requires this,, we are told, 
and to promote the good of the party, we ought to 
sacrifice houses, lands, friends, country, conscience, 
religion, and honesty. 

After all that had been said and done by the citi- 
zens of Utica, application was made to the Common 
Council by the abolitionists for the privilege of hold- 
ing their Convention in the court-room. It is un- 
known to the author by whom the petition was 
presented ; but it is known that Robert M 'Bride-, 
who voted against it, did afterward say, that he 
had promised to present the petition. Some of the 
members of the council entertained doubts as to their 
legal right to grant the prayer of the petition, but 
the council were repeatedly assured by the mayor, 
(Gen. Kirkland, who is a lawyer,) that they had 
such legal right; but he was nevertheless opposed 
to granting it. It was accordingly resolved, by a 
vote of seven to four, that the said Convention 
should be permitted to hold their meeting in the 
court-room. 

Of the reasons for or against this vote, this is 



64 THE. ENEMIES OF THE 

neither llie time nor the place to speak. None but 
wilful calumniators will dare 1o say that the charac- 
ters of the individuals who voted for the resolution, 
are not beyond reproach. They are well known in 
the community where they reside, and are known 
only to be loved and esteemed. To the most pro- 
minent of the four individuals who voted against it, 
the same remarks will apply. Of the characters of 
the other three, nothing can be here said with cer- 
tainty, for the want of information, with the excep- 
tion of one, whose character, being generally known, 
will speak for itself. 

After this vote of the Common Council, a young 
man runs about with an inflammatory handbill got up 
of course by the leading "agitators" against the pro- 
ceedings of the Common Council. It was signed' 
by man}- respectable citizens, some without know- 
ing its contents (as they afterward said) who would 
have declined signing it if they had known the in- 
decent language which it contained. The handbill 
was published, and posted about the streets in fla- 
ming colours, calling a meeting at the court room 
on the evening of the 17th October.* 

Every effort was now used to produce the highest 
possible excitement, and it is not at all to be wonder- 
ed at that when the meeting was assembled, the 
court room was crowded to overflowing, and that 
'• Sa tan came also and, presented himself among 
them." The lowest dregs of society were also* 
'iiere to show their indignity at the vote of the 

* See Appcudix Nc, III,. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 65 

Council. The following resolution brought forward 
among the rest by Mr. Beardsley, who was now 
called upon to carry out his "revolutionary" senti- 
ments might foretoken the scenes which were to 
follow. 

" Resolved, that this meeting unmoved by pas- 
" sion or prejudice, but influenced only by a just 
" regard for itself and for what is due to the quiet 
"and repose of the whole community, will not sub- 

" MIT TO THE INDIGNITY OF AN ABOLITION ASSEM- 
" BLAGE BEING HELD IN A PUBLIC BUILDrNG IN THIS 

"city, reared as this was by the contributions of its 
"citizens, and designed to be used for salutary pub- 
" lie objects, and not as a receptacle for deluded fa- 
"natics and reckless incendiaries." 

It was well understood that this resolution applied 
to all public buildings in the city whether churches, 
school rooms, or others. By the next resolution it 
will have been seen that it became the duty of every 
citizen to use all lawful and proper measures to pre- 
vent the assembling of the Convention at any place. 
The other resolutions have spoken for themselves. 

At this meeting it has been seen that the Mayor 
was not ashamed to make his appearance, and ap- 
probate the proceedings, when the avowed object 
was to scandalize the body over which he presided, 
and set at defiance the authority which he officially 
assured them that they possessed. An amendment 
to one of the resolutions was offered by Mr. Noyes, 
so as to disapprobate forcible resistance to the meet- 
ing of the abolitionists, after which, A. G. Dauby 
whose influence was principally confined to the 



C6 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

lowest and most degraded class, arose, and after in- 
dulging the most inflammatory language concluded 
as follows : — " For one, Mr. President, I Will be here, 
I will prevent their" (the abolitionists) " coming here, 
peaceably if I can, forcibly if I must," at which 
the rabble set up a hooting and stamping which en- 
tirely smothered every voice that was raised against 
the disorders which it was seen must inevitably 
ensue from the proceedings. 

Mr. Beardsley in his violent invectives against the 
Common Council, and against the abolitionists, ex- 
ceeded all bounds. " If they" (the abolitionists) 
" should persist in holding their convention in this 
city, they were responsible for all the consequences 
that should follow ; If they should be permitted to hold 
their meeting here, like the Hartford Convention, it 
would fix a lasting stigma upon the fair name of the 
city ; Hewould rather that the place should be consum- 
ed with fire, even with fire from Heaven ; he regretted 
extremery ili.it he could not be present at the meet- 
ing on the 21st, to which this meeting was to be ad- 
journed : he expected to be at Albany, and perhaps 
should not return in time to attend." It was resol- 
ved that the meeting when it adjourned, should ad- 
journ to meet at the court room* at 9 o'clock A. M. 
on the day when the convention should assemble, 
and this was pronounced with such emphasis, and 

* It u ill l>r rem. inhered tint this is the room granted by the Com- 
mon Council for the meeting of the State Anti-Slavery Convention 
and that the avowed object oC the leaden in this meeting was, for- 
cibly to resijstthe public authorities, in which it \\ ill shortly be seen, 
they were successful; 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 67 

with such an insinuating air by Mr. Beardsley, by 
whom the resolutions were read, that his designs 
could not be mistaken by the rabble, who were to 
carry them into effect. 

Every reasonable mind who was acquainted with 
the means that are made use of to raise a mob, 
saw full well that the city was to be disgraced with 
tumult and disorder. That such was the result to 
which the conduct of Beardsley and Dauby tended, 
no man in his senses could for a moment doubt. 
Here, when the office holders, and others who had 
selfish and designing views dared not to lift up their 
voices against these disgraceful proceedings, the 
patriotic voice of the mechanic, one after another, 
was raised in defence of the constitution of his 
country,* but the cry of the mob "put him doAvn ! 
hussle him out ! " was instantly raised, and his ap- 
peal to their pride as freemen ! was made in vain, 
for his voice was smothered amidst the loud yells, 
and confusion which ensued. 

After this meeting many of the reflecting citizens 
became sensible to the degradation which had been 
brought upon them, and which still awaited them 
for the purpose of satisfying the political schemes 
of a few individuals too small in number to consti- 
tute a "corporal's guard." 

It ought to be observed, thatwhen the disposition 
of the adversaries of the freedom of speech and of 
the press was discovered, the doors of several of 
the churches were thrown open to the abolitionists 

* Several of the mechanics attempted to oppose the proceeding's, 
but were clamoured down by the sneers of the leading " agitators." 



68 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

by the trustees and congregations, and they finally 
elected to meet in the Bleecker street church which 
was loaned to them by the Trustees and congre- 
gation. In the mean time these matters became 
the engrossing subject of conversation among all 
classes of the community, and when the 20th had 
arrived, it was understood that low, degraded, and 
irresponsible persons from all quarters, had already 
been warned to make their appearance on the fol- 
lowing day, and many had declared their intention 
to expel the convention at all hazards. So indus- 
triously had the excitement been spread, and infused 
into every living creature that even the boys in the 
street talked of Lynching and bloodshed, and the 
very dogs yelped with rage.* 

On Tuesday evening the 20th, a conservative 
meeting was called of " the citizens of Utica who 
were not abolitionists, but who were nevertheless 
in favour of maintaining the supremacy of the laws 
at all times, and under all circumstances, and who 
were opposed to any abridgement of the right of 
free and temperate discussion guarantied by the 
constitution.' 1 

This meeting was previously resolved on by a 
committee of thirty citizens, after full and mature dc- 
liberation ; not one of that committee was an aboli- 
tionist ; nor had any abolitionist any agency whatever 

♦These animals, it issaid, with many others of no superior grade, 
followed the leading agitators to theix places ol' rendezvous, and at 
the conclusion of every speech, as if comprehending what was said 
by instinct; groirlcd out their patriotic indignation. 



-CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



69 



in procuring the meeting to be called, as the author 
is informed by unquestionable authority. 

By this time the mob were in some considerable 
degree organized; and it was alleged that orders 
had been given at the grog shops that intoxicating 
liquors should be dealt out to them in large quanti- 
ties without charge. 

When the meeting was assembled, a large num- 
ber of boys by some means had been procured to 
attend, and as many vicious, disorderly, and vile 
wretches who had no character, no name to pre- 
serve, had been industriously gathered together for 
the occasion. David Wager, the candidate for the 
senate ; A. G. Dauby, a low 'pettifogger, who has 
been little distinguished for his virtues, and R. B. 
Miller, the District Clerk, who afterward acted such 
a conspicuous part among the mob, had the audaci- 
ty to appear at the meeting, although they well knew 
that they had no right there, and that one of the 
principal objects of the meeting was to counteract 
as much as possible the evil consequences which 
were likely to result from their previous conduct. 

After the chairman was appointed, an attempt 
was made to adjourn the meeting, but this was un- 
successful, and the meeting being fully organized, 
a committee was chosen to draft resolutions, which 
committee after retiring for a short time reported to 
the meeting a series of resolutions,* and after the 
report was accepted, the question on the preamble 
and first resolution, being in favour of liberty of 

* See proceedings reported in full and officially verified, Appendix 
No. IV. 

7 



70 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

speech and of the press, was put and carried by a 
large majority, although the utmost force of the en- 
emies of the constitution had been mustered 
against it. 

It was thus discovered by the abettors of tumult 
that they could carry nothing by the vote of the 
meeting. The next resolution, which was that " for 
the protection of the constitutional rights of their 
southern brethren, and the union of the states, they 
(the meeting) pledged their lives, their fortunes, and 
sacred honour," was then called up, and A. G. 
Dauby, the Postmaster, and editor, arose and op- 
posed it in a language and air that plainly indicated 
to the mob what it was designed should follow; 
after he had become seated, his adherents set up a 
yelling which entirely interrupted the proceedings : 
several respectable mechanics who had done them- 
selves great credit for their laudable exertions on the 
side of law and order, attempted to makethcir voices 
heard, but to no purpose. Wager and Miller, and 
their subordinates mounted the rostrum, and the 
boys and drunkards now understood that when any 
should attempt to speak on the side of order, a 
loud yell was to be raised, which should prevent 
their being heard. 

In this manner fifty vicious and degraded wretches 
could prevail against seven hundred respectable 
citizens. Every thing was thus involved in disorder 
and confusion, and the assembly as was deemed 
most expedient, under the circumstances, dispersed. 

This was one of the largest and most respectable 
meetings ever convened in Utica, on any occasion. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 71 

It was called principally by mechanics, and had for 
its design no other object than the preservation of the 
constitution and the laws ; we have already seen by 
what base means its proceedings were interrupted, 
by a man with whom the honest mechanic would 
scorn to associate.* 

At last the morning of the 21st arrived, and as 
soon as the dawn, the form of A. G. Dauby, like a 
nightly ghost, was seen stalking in the street ; a few 
minutes elapsed, and sure enough, notwithstand- 
ing his important business at Albany, and that he 
had scarce had time to go and return — Samuel 
Beardsley made his appearance.! The eventful 
day was ushered in, amidst the shouts of the mob 
and roaring of the cannon, which the agitators had 
got into their possession ; when the friends of the 
constitution saw that the great agitator himself 
was really in the city, bodily (he had forewarned his 
friends that he should be present with them in spi- 
rit,) they remembered his previous conduct and sen- 
timents, that " nothing was due to the abolitionists 
if they came there," and that " they would not sub- 

* As a specimen of A. G. Dauby's associates, the author is in- 
formed that a fellow of intemperate habits, and very low character, 
best known by the name of Bill Dick, is one of his particular friends 
and confidents, and that he is allowed by Mr. Dauby to have daily 
access to the letters in the Post-office. Such is the hazard in which 
matters of the highest moment are placed. We have before seen 
that the Post-office, in the hands which now control its affairs is at 
best a very unsafe establishment. 

t Why Mr. Beardsley went to Albany at this particular time, and 
returned with so much haste, can probably be ascertained at the 
source from whence " instructions" are given. At present, with 
most people, his real business at Albany is a matter of conjecture. 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

mit to the indignity of an abolitionist assemblage 
being held in a public building of the city," that 
" he would rather it were sunk lower than Sodom 
and Gomorroh," that he justified the seizure of the 
mail at Charleston, and the committing its contents 
to the flames, that " these occasions would find a 
law for themselves," that " he went revolution when 
it was necessary," and that " the convention could 
not claim that they deserved to escape castigation," 
and they readily suspected more serious troubles. 
They revolved in their minds queries and conjec- 
tures like the following : — 

For what purpose has he returned so soon from 
Albany ? " and why teas he intent on holding a 
meeting" at the court-house at nine o'clock " to pro- 
mote his designs,"* after a majority of the people 
of the city had shown their aversion to violent and 
unconstitutional measures ? " It is intended 
suit us; it is intended to degrade the character of 
the city in the esteem of the ivorld ; and especially 
to us, who live here, to treat us with the utmost con-** 
tempt. Insult us to our faces, where (without the 
band of ruffians now gathered in from other places) 
he cannot muster a corporaTs guard. He, in con- 
tempt of the open, public, and express sentiment of 
this community, conies here to hold a disgraceful 
and scandalous assembly ; to rush in and insult us 
to our faces with an assembly of this kind ;" brings 
ing a mob here. " If toe were not a peaceable 
people, perhaps he might have an excuse for such 

* Meeting of the " Agitators," to be held on the day of the Corv* 
mention. See antCj p. 71. Appendix, No. V. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 73 

downright hardiness ; he will be treated civilly, we 
doubt not, by the citizens of Utica ; he cannot claim 
that he deserves to escape castigaiion. These are the 
objects of this man. The laws of propriety forbid that 
he should come here. We are to be picked out as 
the head-quarters of Mobocracy in the state of New- 
York. This man and his coadjutors are resolved 
to press forward with their designs, and thus en- 
danger the north as well as the south, and our in- 
stitutions. So a man may contend that he has a 
right to smoke a cigar in our powder-house. The 
inevitable tendency of their conduct is to sunder 
the ties of the union. They intend to hold their 
meeting, raise a mob, and break up this Convention 
of freemen ! It is designed to fix a deep and dark 
stigma on our name." " It is to be recorded in his- 
tory" that we were among the first to betray the liber- 
ties of our fellow-citizens, and trample in the dust 
the constitution of our country. " We wish they 
ivould not select this as the place of their" infamy. 

Such were the queries and conjectures of the 
friends of order, when at early dawn they beheld 
the unwelcome "Agitators" in their streets. But 
as " they were a peaceable people," and the author 
rities of the city had been set at defiance, they feared 
they should have to " lie down under it, and quietly 
submit to the disgrace." 

The very man who had been active in preventing 
conservative measures in the city, was the editor of 
a public journal, and had diffused his disorganizing 
sentiments to a fearful extent. The following lan- 
guage published in the editorial column the day be- 
7* 



74 THE ENEMIES OF THE 1 

fore, could not be mistaken." "It is, (says this same 
"A. G. Dauby) "therefore, certain, that the court- 
" house cannot be occupied by the incendiaries. 
" Where, then, will they go ? We have no patience 
" with those who haggle about the right to come 
"here and hold a Convention. The risrht thus 
" audaciously asserted, is a right to perpetrate mis- 
" chief, disturb the peace of society, excite civil 
" commotion, promote insurrection among the slaves, 
"produce anarchy and bloodshed, and to dissolve 
" the union ; but all this, we are gravely told, can 
"be done legally, and therefore must not be op- 
" posed ! The ' union must be preserved.' It must 
H then be defended against legal and illegal assaults. 
#####*###* 
" Wore there no law out of the decalogue against 
" theft, would a man's property be less sacredly his 
" own ? and would stealing be less a crime than it 
" is at present ? If sufficient safeguards have not 
" been provided to protect our free institutions from 
"being destroyed by deluded or wicked men, all 
" who wish their perpetuation will desire that they 
•• may be found and adopted. * * * 

" The whole south is waiting witli trembling anxi- 
o know how we bear ourselves in this matter — 
" whether we meanly truckle to their and our ene- 
"mies, or, with a spirit of manly independence, in- 
dignantly frown upon those who would affix an 
"indelible stigma upon our name and character. 
" The Richmond Enquirer, the ablest, most influen- 
" tial, and moderate paper of the whole south, speaks 
"to us in strong and indignant language. No one 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. t5 

" can read what it says without believing that it is 
" necessary to do something to allay the excitement; 
" and yet we are madly advised to let the conflagra- 
" tion go on, or at least not to obstruct those who are 
" daily adding fuel to the flames. But what are we 
"told by the Enquirer? It says emphatically, 'Utica 
" has to choose between two courses — Will she en- 
" joy the honour of repelling the disunionists and 
" fanatics from her gates I or will she be degraded 
" by the presence of another Hartford Convention ? 
" Every eye of the south is fixed upon the meeting 
" of the Convention within her borders. Every 
"tongue is busy in discussing the probability and 
" the consequences of the meeting. We call upon 
" the citizens of New- York to arrest these madmen 
" in their career — who know not themselves what 
" mischiefs they are inflicting upon the country, and 
" especially upon the coloured population, whose in- 
" terests they are professing to serve. We call, above 
" all, upon the good citizens of Utica, to keep this 
" moral pestilence from their door. We call upon 
" their respectable mayor, who was the chairman of 
" the late anti-abolition meeting, to rouse up, and 
" with the aid of all the patriots of Utica, to arrest 
"this mischievous meeting. Stop the madmen's 
" hands, that would apply the firebrands to the union 
"itself."' 

To these latter remarks not the least intimation 
of dissent was given by Dauby, but manifest appro- 
bation, as has been seen. These inflammatory senti- 
ments together with those of Samuel Beardsley, con- 
stantly repeated at his incendiary meetings > had 



76 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

already become familiar with those mysterious be- 
ings, who are seen only on occasions of great tumult. 
David Wager was more than usually conversant 
with individuals of low character, or rather no cha- 
racter. Old Hooker* was up from New-York. 
Gen. Spinner, sheriff of Herkimer, was also in town. 
The large jugs were wending their way to the grog- 
shops according to order, not to be turned away 
empty, for want of funds, ;t and Lyman Adams, it 
was supposed, had already got his bond of indcm- 
nity.J " No man with an honest heart, with a sound 
and intelligent mind," who had watched the progress 
of things, could now pretend that the " occasion was 
not destined to find a law for itself." 

At last the agitators proceeded to the court-house 
pursuant to adjournment ; and he who was attracted 
by " the meal" which he said he thought he " could 
see on the cat's back" " cometh also among them," as 
well as the multitude of degraded wretches which had 
by this time gathered themselves together from vari- 

* A noted drunkard and disturber of the peace from the twelfth 
ward. 

t It was asserted by persons professing to know the feet, that the 
mob were furnished with intoxicating liquors by men claiming re- 
lit v. < Vrtuin it is. that large numbers of them were drunk 
during the day ami following night. 

t It was currently reported that this Adams (a man oi' low cha- 
racter) refused to act as leader of the mob, until indemnified, and 
that a bond was accordingly given him. This, it is presumed, is a 
matter of conjecture. Such a bond would have been void in 
law; but if any man should ha\e given BOCD a bond, he would not 
of course, expose lus conduct by contesting its legality in a court of 
justice. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 77 

ous~parts of the country. What was there transacted, 
will in part appear from the proceedings published.* 

From the task of recording the indecent and in- 
flammatory remarks which were intended to apprize 
the mob of the design and effect of these proceed- 
ings, the pen of the author already shrinks with 
horror. 

The convention in the mean time had assembled 
and organized at the Bleecker street Presbyterian 
church, with the express permission of both the 
Trustees and congregation. A committee of twenty- 
five was appointed at the Court House ; the names 
of that committee are recorded; their princi- 
pal duties as appeared ostensibly, was to ascertain 
the time and place of the meeting of the conven- 
tion, and tell the " said Delegates" of the number 
and character of iheir constituents. The meeting 
at the court-room takes a recess, and this famous 
committee of twenty-five led forth and impel- 
led, by the prime mover, Samuel Beardsley, like $ 
pack of faithful hounds quickly starting at their 
master's call, intent upon their prey, dart forth into 
divers streets and narrow lanes hunting for the con* 
ventiom 

<l Among this well trained pack were found, 
As many dogs there be, 
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, 
And curs of low degree." 

At length, they find their way to the church where 
the convention is sitting, preceded and surrounded 

* See Appendix, No. V. 



78 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



by a formidable mob, from which as soon as they 
enter upon the threshold, the cry is raised "there 
the committee come ! open the way ! break down 
the doors ! damn the fanatics ! hussle um out ! " A 
worthy alderman of the city commands the rabble 
to desist, but he is instantly overpowered, with vio- 
lence, and his coat rent from his back. Sheriff Spin- 
ner* is requested to exercise his influence to induce 
his division to desist since no resistance was offer- 
ed, but this request is answered only by menaces. 

Others of the mob cried " clear the way for the 
committee ! damn it, we'll break down the doors, 
we're sent to open the way for the committee ! Ring 
the fire bell !" And every thing that opposed was 
borne away before them, until the portly form of 
the old sportsman t surrounded by his whole pack of 
twenty-four faithful hounds, is seen in the centre of 
the church and his favourite puppy yelping aboui 
in the galleries. 

" I confess,' r said an anti-abolitionist who had 
been present, with tears in his eyes, " I felt on that oc- 
casion like one that has been betrayed by his friend ; 
when I saw the first Judge, and County Clerk, my 
political friends whom I have supported, thus rudely 
enter this assembly, my blood ran cold to see my 
confidence in their integrity, and their regard for the 
oaths they had taken, wantonly betrayed, and the 
very fountain of justice polluted." 

* The author has no certain information as to the part Mr. S. 
acted in the affair, except that he was found amongst the mob, and 
that the tendency of his language and conduct was to encourage 
them in their design to break up the convention, 
t Beardsley. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 79 

The committee, with the aid of two or three hun- 
dred of their "peaceable" constituents, collected to- 
gether from all quarters rush down the aisles of the 
church, led on by the old huntsman* to the place 
where the officers of the convention are seated, one 
of them brandishing his canef and crying clear the 
way for the committee ! Here, when they are arrived, 
Samuel Beardsley mounting upon some object which 
elevated him above the rest, saw in the chair of this 
great convention Judge Brewster, an influential 
republican of the county of Monroe. 

Among its numbers too, he saw r the venerable 
heads of influential republicans, who had long serv- 
ed their country in a public and private capacity, and 
whose locks had become whitened with age ; his 
political friends, many who had early cherished 
and supported him, and cheerfully contributed by 
their exertions and influence to raise him from his 
once humble and obscure condition to distinction. 
And we can imagine him ashamed and confused, 
reaching forth to them his hand, and they answering ; 
" No, you have proved recreant to the principles 
which form the basis of democracy, liberty of 
speech, and of the press ; the right of freemen peace- 
ably to assemble and deliberate upon subjects in- 
timately concerning the welfare of their country ; 
w T e love our country, we love its constitution which 
secures us these rights ; we are grown old, and our 
labours nearly ended, and we desire to transmit them 
unimpaired to our children. We cannot shake hands 

1AITOR." 

Beardsley. t J. D. T , eland, County Clerk. 



80 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

The convention had organized,* formed a state 
society, and adopted a constitution, and one of its 
officers was engaged in reading a certain paper per- 
taining to the society, when this mock committee 
rushed in and rudely interrupted the proceedings, 
and demanded to be heard with respect to the object 
of their appointment ; the gentleman who was read- 
ing continued, but Judge Hayden and several others 
in a clamourous manner, insolently demanded a 
hearing, and this demand was instantly seconded 
by the yells, shrieks, and awful imprecations, of the 
host of incarnate devils with whom they were sur- 
rounded. 

Beardsley mounted the rostrum t and cried or- 
der, fellow citizens ! We are the peaceable citizens 
of Utica, (by the mob, yez, we are the peaceable 
citizens) and continued to utter the most indecent and 
vile invectives against the convention, calling them 
reckless incendiaries and fanatics, plotting the ruin of 
their country : their coming here said he, is flat 
burglary as ever was committed,:}: against the ex- 
pressed will of ninety-nine out of a hundred of our 
citizens. I hope there will be no violence, but if 
there should be, the deluded wretches are respon- 
sible for all the consequences. Such foolhardiness 

* The author has hccn politely furnished with the report of the 
able address delivered before the convention by Alvan Stewart, esq., 
in which the reader will no doubt be highly interested. It is insert- 
ed entire in Appendix No. IX. 

t For a more full report of his remarks, see Post page 89. 

t Thcro seems to be some uncertainty as to the fact whether Mr. 
Beardsley really used this expression. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 81 

and downright madness, men were never before 
guilty of: (by the mob, damn 'em, hussle 'em out.) 
Let us hear, said Beardsley, from the Convention, 
they have heard us, and it is but right that we should 
hear them ; let us hear what apology they have for their 
conduct, for thus rushing in here and insulting us ; let 
us hear their apology, fellow-citizens, (by the drunken 
rabble, yez, let them kneel and ask our forgiveness.) 
Let us hear, continued Beardsley, whether the con- 
vention will adjourn, whether they will adjourn with- 
out day (another of the " committee" here required 
that the Convention should adjourn, and not meet 
again in Utica). The Convention, said Beardsley, is 
about to adjourn; it is adjourned already. 

A terrible scene of disorder continued from the 
time this committee entered until the house was 
cleared ; they required that every member of the 
Convention should leave the house before them,* 
in order that they might shut it up ; they then re- 
turned to the court house followed by the same gang 
that had attended them to the church, and the fol- 
lowing resolution was passed on motion of David 
Wager : " Resolved, that the officers of this meeting 
be authorized to call a meeting of the citizens of 
Utica if they shall deem it necessary, to prevent 

* Some individuals of the £( committee," it is said, made this de- 
mand. The house was shut up after the memhers of the convention 
were dispersed, and the key carried in triumph to the Court-room 
by Charles A. Mann. It was there publicly exhibited as a trophy 
of their victory over the rights of this Convention — over the rights 
of the trustees and congregation — and over the laws of the land, 
and the act was applauded by that disgraceful assemblage with loud 
acclamations. 

8 



82 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



AN ASSEMBLAGE OF THE ABOLITION CONVENTION, OR 
ANY OTHER CONVENTION OF A SIMILAR CHARACTER 

within the city." Thus had these " agitators" 
become so bold in their designs, that they were de- 
termined to carry them out in defiance of all public 
authority and private right. 

The following extract relating to the transaction 
is taken from the Oneida Standard and Democrat, 
a republican journal, published in Utica, of October 
30th :— 

" We have said the Convention assembled at the 
church at about 10 o'clock, A. M. opened by pray- 
er, and proceeded to business. Soon after the 
Convention had assembled, there were collected in 
the street in front of the church, above one hundred 
individuals to witness what should be done, and 
several boys were making noises and hurraing The 
boys, some of them, came to the doors to pass into 
the church. They were told to wait till the dele- 
gates had all gone in. In a few minutes there 
came a gang to the door from the court-house, and 
demanded admittance. They raved and swore ad- 
mittance must be given them, or they would burst 
open the doors. They said the committee were 
coming, and they were sent to open the way for 
them. They were desired by those standing at the 
door to wait till the committee came, and the com- 
mittee should be admitted. The cry was raised, 
" There the committee come ! open the way ! break 
down the doors ! damn the fanatics ! knock them 
down ! we have the right to enter the church, and 
we will knock them down ! The doors were then 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 83 

burst open, and some one cried out, " Ring the fire- 
bell." Two or three seized the bell-rope, and at- 
tempted to ring the bell. Alderman Kellogg was 
standing by, and commanded them to desist, and 
took hold of the rope to prevent the bell being rung. 
Immediately he was seized by half a dozen, who 
struck him several blows, and tore his coat from his 
back. The moment Mr. Kellogg was seized, 
some cried out, Knock him down ; others said, Kill 
him, kill the damn fanatic. The son of Mr. Kel- 
logg being near by, came to his assistance, and Mr. 
Kellogg was extricated from the hands of the mob, 
and the bell-rope was cut off. The mob then be- 
gan to rush into the church, and hallooed, stamped, 
and yelled like savages and madmen. In a minute 
or so, the aisles of the church were filled, and the 
galleries became crowded, and awful imprecations 
and oaths were heard from every quarter ; loud and 
stentorian voices were heard "clear the way for 
the committee ;" and down rushed the mob to the 
pulpit where were the officers of the Convention. 
Some cried stop that reading ! stop your damn 
stuff! we wont hear it! Hear the committee! 
hear the committee ! will you hear the committee ! 
will you hear the committee !" others said, " Knock 
him down ! hussle out old Stewart ! give us Stew- 
art !" yelling and the utmost confusion was in every 
part of the church where the members of the mob 
could get. The declaration of sentiments which 
was being read when the mob came in, was finished, 
and the question taken by uplifted hands. The 
mob was then addressed by one or two of its lead- 



84 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

crs, and partial order restored. The paper they had 
was read, and confusion, yelling, and shouting again 
prevailed. Mr. Stewart attempted to be heard for 
a moment, but in vain, Some cried, " hussle him 
out !" others said, " gag him !" others said, " stop 
the damn fanatic !" and no one could be heard for 
a moment except the leaders of the mob. The 
chairman attempted two or three times to be heard, 
but the confusioivvvould commence at the beck of a 
leader the moment he said a word. — They were de- 
sired once to wait a single minute, but were answer- 
ed, let it be short. The windows were shoved up 
by the mob, and every thing both in speech and act 
spoke that violence was at hand. The proposition 
for a committee on the part of the Convention was 
rejected, and the mob demanded the Convention to 
adjourn in the most boisterous and insulting manner. 
It was soon announced that the Convention was 
adjourned. Then came the cry to leave the house, 
and one of the mob made and put the motion him- 
self, that the delegates adjourn and not meet again 
in this city. The members of the delegation began 
to retire ; then came the cry from one of the mob, 
" Beardsley, say the word, and we will tear old 
Stewart to pieces in an instant ! give us old Stewart ! 
give us Tappan ! hussle them out of the house ! 
clear out ! clear out ! disperse the fanatics ! The 
delegates were jostled and pushed by some of the 
mob ; others rushed and seized the papers on the 
table, and tore them to pieces ; others went to the 
Secretary and demanded of him the proceedings of 
the Convention. The Secretary was a minister of 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 85 

the Gospel, and a man who had fought in the re- 
volution ; yet an individual who was called by the 
mob " one of the committee,"* had the audacity to 
say to him in menacing language : " I will be damn- 
ed if I don't have the papers if I have to knock you 
down to get them." One individual took him by 
the shoulders ; another attempted to put his hand 
into the pocket of the Secretary for the papers. 
The minutes of the Secretary were at length given 
to the son of the Secretary, and he raised up and 
the papers shown to the mob. The delegates made 
their way out of the house as well as they could 
amid the confusion and jostling, and the mob took 
possession of the church, and after some damage 
done to the psalm books, &c. locked the door, and 
then the mob repaired to the court-house where the 
minutes of the Secretary and the key of the church 
were exhibited as trophies of their victory. 

The following resolution among others was then 
passed, and the mob left the court-house : — 

On motion of J. M. Hatch, Esq. 

" Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be 
returned to the committee of twenty-five citizens for 
the able, effectual, and proper manner in which they 
have performed the duties assigned them." 

The next proceeding of the mob which we notice, 
was their going to the various public houses at 
which delegates had stopped, and turning them out 
of doors ; and in one or two instances, when the 
delegates had got into their carriages to drive away, 

* RutgerB. Miller, District Clerk U. S. 

8 * 



86 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

the wheels of the carriages were held on to. After 
the work of turning the delegates out of the public 
houses was completed, the members of the mob re- 
paired, some to their homes, some to the groceries, 
where money had been left to pay expenses, others 
to different places to glut themselves till the evening 
sacrifice should be ready. The sun went down and 
darkness came on. Then went a portion of the 
mob to our printing-office, entered and threw the 
types, cases, &c. into the street. This being done, 
the cry was raised for Kellogg's and Stewart's, but 
only a few of the mob made their appearance at 
either of the places. — The fact being known that 
preparation was made to give them a warm recep- 
tion at those places, induced them to keep at a dis- 
tance, and neither of the houses were attacked. 

Such is a faint outline on paper of the disgrace- 
ful proceedings of that day. The half has not and 
cannot be told ; none but an eyewitness can real- 
ize sue. j roceeding. Those who have seen a mob 
led on by men claiming respectability, can alone 
appreciate their doings. That such proceedings can 
be called peaceable and pacificatory we deny. 
Great violence was exhibited in the speeches and 
conduct of all; menaces and threats were dealt out 
with unsparing hands. Many exalted in their con- 
duct, and seemed to arrogate to themselves great 
credit for being foremost in the mob. We ought 
in justice to some individuals to say, (and we are at 
all times willing to do justice to whom justice is 
due,) that they are now heartily sorry for their con- 
duct on that occasion, and we trust there are others 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. S7 

who will yet repent of the course taken, in view of 
the deep disgrace they have brought upon them- 
selves and the community in which they live. 

Upon the invitation of Gerrit Smith, Esq. from 
350 to 400 of the delegates repaired to Peterboro,* 
a distance of 25 miles, when on the morning of the 
22d, the delegates having convened at the large 
church, the meeting was opened by prayer, and Dr. 
Arba Blair was called to the chair, and T. Robin- 
son of N. Y., W. W. Reed of Rochester, W. Yates 
of Troy, J. H. Martin of Greenbush, H. Blodget 
of Oneida, and Mr. Bush of Rochester, were ap- 
pointed Secretaries. The society elected its offi- 
cers, the names of whom were given in our last. 
The society then transacted its business, and after 
listening to a most eloquent and powerful address 
from Gerrit Smith, Esq.f adjourned at evening. To 
say a larger and more dignified Convention never 
assembled in America than was the convention at 
Utica, would be only to repeat what is in the mouth 
of every one, except perhaps those who met on that 
day to break up the convention. The number of 
delegates who came to Utica were from 900 to 1000, 
though from the early hour at which the convention 
went into the church only about 600 were present 
when the mob commenced their attack and dis- 
persed the members of the Convention. 

* Some of the members of the Convention, while going from 
Vernon, a place situated about 17 miles from Utica, were again as- 
sailed by a mob, which was said to have been excited by a man by 
the name of J. W. Jenkins ; and some of them had their carriages 
and persons considerably injured, t See Appendix No. VIII. 



88 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

For the honour of our city, and the character of 
individuals, we wish a veil could have been drawn 
over the transactions of the mob on that day. But 
unfortunately a thousand strangers were in town 
who witnessed the transactions of the day, and 
have gone home to tell the tale of disgrace and 
violence.* 

Before we leave this desolated church, this arena 
of men's disgrace, we are called upon to pass sen- 
tence upon the conduct of Samuel Beardsley. Let 
this sentence be passed by the Eight Hundred 
Citizens of New-York, who were eyewitnesses of 
his conduct, by the^worthy but insulted judge who 
then occupied the chair, by the venerable Secre- 
tary who recorded his disgrace ; by the children, 
and grandchildren of these eight hundred freemen, 
who will remember his language and conduct on 
that occasion, long after the tongue of calumny 
shall have been hushed in the silence of the grave. 
When it is recollected that he took advantage of 
the peaceable character of that assembly to insult 
them to their faces, and heap upon them the most 
odious and nameless epithets, when they were pre- 
vented from interposing any reply or defence by the 
menaces of a savage and furious mob, let the man 
of honour judge if such is not the conduct of a 
coward and a villain. If such is not the judgment 

* It will be sufficient to say, in relation to an}- statements origin- 
ating from the Utica Observer <>r " Oneida Whig," that the edi- 
tors of each of those journals were members of this ' : committee" 
or pack of ticcnti/Jive ; and it is not strange that many erroneous 
statements oriu r inati:)L r &OB1 these men, and tending to exculpate 
their conduct, should have gone forth to the public. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 89 

of ninety-nine out of a hundred of those who were 
present, and not in any manner implicated in the 
wrongs of that day, then an enlightened public will 
have some just cause to pause and inquire, before his 
sentence is recorded. The following are also some 
of the scandalous remarks uttered by Mr. Beards- 
ley on that occasion, in the presence of the mob : 

"It is proper we should hear what the Conven- 
"tion have to say, either now or by a committee. 
" We are bound to hear them ; we are bound to 
" exercise all patience and long-suffering even to- 
" wards such an assembly as this. But I also feel 
" bound to say, that for such a convention to assem- 
" ble here, at such a time as this, I am bound to 
" call it a very extraordinary transaction. While 
"the whole country is boiling with indignation 
" against their evil proceedings — and when at least 
" ninety-nine in a hundred of our citizens all over 
'* the land are opposed to them ; and after the ex- 
■ ■ press and repeated and respectful remonstrances 
" of the people of Utica against their making our 
" city the theatre of their operations, for them to 
" persist in forcing themselves upon us, is an out- 
" rage that is very hard to bear. Yet we are order- 
" ly and peaceable citizens. Let us not be moved 
" into passion by the injury. At such a time as this, 
" for them to push on in their inflammatory designs, 
" tends directly and unqualifiedly to the disruption 
" of our loved and glorious union. But let us not 
" be thrown off our guard by it. Let us do nothing 
" unworthy our character as orderly and peaceable 
" citizens of Utica. If they have any apology to 



90 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

" make for their conduct, let us hear it. For my 
" part, I should like to know what apology can be 
" made for proceedings which we know, and they 
" know, are intended to be used by designing politi- 
" cians, to exasperate the members of this union 
" at each other. They profess to come here on an 
" errand of religion, while under the guise of re- 
" ligion they are hypocritically plotting the dissolu- 
" tion of the union. They have been warned be- 
" forehand, and borne with unexampled patience. 
" And if they now refuse, and any unpleasant con- 
" sequences should follow, we will not be responsi- 
" ble. Let them yield to the wishes of the good 
" and respectable citizens of Utica, and dissolve 
" their Convention.* If they refuse then, the fault 
" will be theirs. They claim a right, as free citi- 
" zens, to pursue their inflammatory discussions, 
" however pernicious and destructive they may be. 
" And I suppose we must bear it. In this land of 

* ' If there be aivy among us," says Thomas Jefferson, in his 
first inaugural address, " who would wish to dissolve this union, 
or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as 
monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be to- 
lerated, where reason is left free to combat it." Among the es- 
sential principles of our government, in the same address, he ranks 
" the diffusion of information and arraignment cf all abuses at the 
bar of public reason: — freedom of religion; freedom or the 
press, and freedom of person, under, the protection of the habeas 
corpus; and trial by juries, impartially collected. These principles 
form the bright constellation which has crone before us and guided 
our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wis- 
dom of our sages, and blood o^ our heroes, have been devoted to 
their attainment, they should be the creed of our political faith, the 
boast of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the ser- 
vices of those wc trust." 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 91 

" freedom we must submit. Let us hear their jus- 
" tification for this outrage upon our feelings, if they 
" have any. We can hear it, and will hear it !" — 
(By the mob — " No, we won't hear it, we won't 
hear them, let them go home, let them ask our for- 
giveness and we will let them go !") 

But what is this outrage of which Mr. Beardsley 
speaks ? These men had met here to discuss the 
subject of slavey ; they had the rightful and un- 
disputed claim to the possession of this house, in 
which they were assembled ; the right which they 
exercised was one springing from God himself, and 
confirmed to them by the laws of the land. With 
their peculiar sentiments we have not now to do ; 
if they are forbidden to speak and write upon the 
subject, we shall never understand them ; if they 
are permitted, we shall know and condemn their 
sentiments if they are wrong. To denounce them 
as hypocrites and fanatics, and to stop their mouths, 
is a weak and barbarous mode of reasoning indeed, 
and has alwa} 7 s reacted, with great force, against the 
fools who have adopted it. 

After the church was cleared, and the " agitators" 
had left the court-house, a large number stationed 
themselves in front of Mr. Clark's Temperance 
Hotel, where, as many of the members of the Con- 
vention as could be accommodated, took lodgings. 
Several of the leading ones among them, who reside 
in Utica, and claim some degree of respectability, 
took their stations in the entrance, and about the 
door ; and until the house was cleared, indulged in 
profane, and low, and abusive language towards 



\)2 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

every person whom they suspected to be of a peace- 
able character. At one time it was suspected that 
the members of the Convention would transact bu- 
siness at their lodgings, and thereupon the mob 
rushed into the house, and several of them boldly 
declared their intention to demolish it, if it was not 
cleared of the abolitionists before sunset. The 
peaceable character of the individuals assailed, and 
their high respectability, afforded them no shield. 
They were hurried from their lodgings, some even 
before they had time to obtain their dinners, amidst 
the insults and abuses of a drunken rabble, who had 
assembled to make this exhibit of their "patriotism 
and love of the union." The scene of low scur- 
rility, horrid blasphemy, and contempt of all law, of 
decency, and of virtue, which was there exhibited, 
is beyond the power of language to describe. 

They assailed every individual who passed in 
the street, whom they suspected of having acted 
a prominent part in endeavouring to preserve the 
peace of the city. It was sufficient to expose an 
individual to the vilest insults, that he was an ar- 
dent friend of the constitution of his country. 

Several times the mob attempted to rush up 
stairs and seize some prominent abolitionists, who 
were at their rooms. At last Mr. Clark's guests, 
(whom he had protected as far as he was able,) es- 
caped from this awful scene of violence, at the peril 
of their persona] safety, and many went to Peter- 
boro\ upon the invitation of Gerrit Smith, Esq. 
There they were protected, and hold a peaceful 
meeting of the State Society, formed in Utica. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. $3 

Occasion is given to speak particularly of Mr. 
Smith. His great talent, his philanthropy, and be- 
nevolence, have acquired for him no little distinc- 
tion. His reputation is known to the intelligent 
throughout America. He is equally distinguished 
for his liberality, and for his noble and generous sen- 
timents ; yet some execrable calumniator, a corres- 
pondent of one of the New-York journals, in giving 
his statement of the transactions of the 21st Oct, 
has .the meanness to call Mr. Smith " a noted fana- 
tic." It is to be regretted that this correspondent did 
not venture to give his name to the public, in order 
that it might be loaded with the detestation and con- 
tempt which it deserves. 

After the transactions of the day were over, and 
the shades of night were approaching, the victory 
which had been achieved by the mob was celebra- 
ted amid loud shouts and the roaring of the cannon, 
which they still retained in their possession. One 
formidable enemy yet remained for these fiendish 
"Patriots," these "peaceable citizens," to over- 
come — the press. Freedom of speech had fallen 
a victim to their rage ; the right of the people peace- 
ably to assemble existed but in name ; and, as if 
they yet retained some sense of shame, they sought 
the darkness of the night to cover from the view of 
the world that blackest and most infamous deed, the 
destruction of the press in this land of liberty. 
When it was night they entered the office of the 
Standard and Democrat, a Van Buren paper, and ma- 
nifested their determination to destroy the type. 
The printers were at work; they reasoned; they 
9 



94 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

remonstrated ; they entreated ; but in vain ; the 
deed was instantly accomplished, and again the 
shout of victory was raised. 

Al van Stewart, Esq., and Spencer Kellogg, are 
gentlemen of the first respectability, and prominent 
abolitionists. They occupy two costly brick dwell- 
ings in an elevated part of the city ; these the " agi- 
tators" had doomed to destruction. They were, 
however, invested with a strong force of armed 
citizens, who were determined to defend them at the 
risk of their lives,* and moreover, several hundred 
citizens were collected in the streets, determined to 
prevent any further violence. When this was dis- 
covered, the " agitators" mostly dispersed. It is 
supposed that many of them followed the members 
of the Convention to Vernon, and were among those 
who assaulted them at that placp. It has been as- 
serted by some, that the dwellings of Messrs. Stewart 
and Kellogg were in no danger. This is false. It 
has come from individuals who are implicated in 
the infamous transactions of that day. It is well 
known, that these dwellings would have been level- 
led with the ground, had they not been defended; 
at least, it is known that such was the determination 
of the " agitators." 

What has been said, will convey a faint idea of 

* The heroism displayed on this occasion, by the wife and eldest 
daughter of Mr. Kellogg, would have done honour to a more chivalrie 
age. It is said that they persisted, against the entreaties of their friends, 
in their determination not to leave the house on the night when it 
was supposed it would be assaulted,* but remained, resolved with their 
own arms, to stand foremost in its defence, and in defence of their 
country's laws and institutions. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 95 

the deeds of this memorable day. But language is 
insipid when compared with the reality. Even 
what has here been said, may seem like exaggera- 
tion to him who has no heart, no sensibility, no love 
to the country that gave him birth, or to its boasted 
freedom, which that day saw trampled in the dust. 
That day, it is true, is but one among more than a 
million, which have elapsed since the w T orld was" 
made. It is also true, that the events related oc~ 
curred principally in Utica; a little city, which was 
entirely unknown to the ancients, and until then, 
scarcely known to the moderns. But on this day, 
and in this humble place, the laws were set at nought, 
virtue was despised, God was blasphemed, the liber- 
ties of America were but an empty name. O that 
every lover of his country could have witnessed the 
Sadness that reigned upon the countenance of the 
patriot, when he had seen the enemy in disguise 
triumphing over the constitution. 

We are nattered that these transactions are tri- 
fling, unimportant, although few can doubt, that, 
they are brought about by a concert of purpose 
among men of power, scattered over the whole face 
of this country. It was but one day ; it ivas in a 
little place; it was an extraordinary occasion. 
But it was a blow levelled at the root of liberty,, 
which demolished the bulwarks that defended the; 
rights of the citizen. O my country ! We shall con- 
tinue thus to be flattered, that every encroachment 
upon ou; constitution is unimportant, until our na- 
tional ruin unavoidable shall stare us in the face.. 
Let us not be deceived by these subtle devices of 
our enemies. They would lull us to sleep amid 



96 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



the most imminent dangers, in- order that their hos- 
tile schemes may move onward without molestation. 
"It is against silent and slow attacks that the na- 
tion ought to be particularly on its guard." 

But let us take one more glance at the conduct 
of this "committee of twenty-five," theirnames, 
it is hoped, will long be preserved and associated 
with the deeds of this memorable day, in order that 
their children, if perchance they should be subject- 
ed to a cruel despotism, and dare not speak their 
sentiments, may remember that their fathers have 
contributed to forge the chains that bind them ; or if 
the liberties of their country shall have been restor- 
ed to a firm basis, they may not boast of their fa- 
thers' deeds. 

In what way is this deliberate and " peaceable' 'vio- 
lation ot the constitutional rights ot this Convention- 
attempted to be justified? The people will be anxious 
to know "what apology can be made 1 ' for this delibe- 
rate assault upon their liberties. The "committee " 
claim the right to rush into this Convention in their 
awn house, interrupt their proceedings, abuse them 
with odious denunciations, and insolently demand 
of them to adjourn without day, no matter whether 
they claim the right to do all this peaceably or 
forcibly. In either case "the right thus audacious- 
ly asserted is a right to do mischief, disturb the 
peace of society, excite civil commotion, violate the 
laws of God, trample upon the constitution, and 
produce anarchy and bloodshed." But all this, we 
are gravely told, can be done "peaceably" The con- 
stitution must be supported. It must then be sup- 
ported against "peaceable " and violent attack^ 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 97 

But the occasion seems to demand that peculiar 
notice should be given to the chairman of that "com- 
mittee." To say that he was not implicated in the 
violence that was committed, by the encouragement 
he gave to it, would show at least a want of sense 
in any individual who witnessed the transaction. 
To say that he is not guilty of a flagrant and unpar- 
donable encroachment upon the constitutional rights 
of this Convention, w r ould be denying that which is 
evident to every one who is acquainted with the 
facts. 

These remarks are not intended to injure the 
character of that man ; they are intended to warn 
the people that there is real danger when the very 
fountain of justice is thus polluted. The chairman 
of this " committee" is the first judge of the county 
of Oneida, a man who is sworn to keep the peace, 
and to whom an appeal might be made by the mem- 
bers of that Convention, for the vindication of the 
insulted law, and their violated rights. Had it not 
been for the inflexible integrity of the Hon. Hiram 
Denio,* they might have appealed to the laws of 
their country in vain. Should the proceedings of 
that day come up before a grand jury of the county, 
what charge would this judge be likely to deliver to 
them in view of the part his associate has acted ? 
He who would expect any thing like impartial jus- 
tice from such a source would expect a miracle.. 

* Hon. H. Denio, is Circuit Judge of the fifth Circuit The au- 
thor is informed that he refused, in any manner, to participate in the 
proceedings of this Lynch ' : Committee," but rejected the invitation, 
to do so with becoming indignation. 
9* 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

Where then shall we go when our judges and our le- 
ra have become corrupt? Shall we appeal to 
the people? The liberty of speech and of the press 
ied. And if we claim the right to assemble to- 
. to deliberate upon modes of redress, here we 
arc also assailed. Judge H-ayden is also a member 
of one of the largest and most respectable churches 
in the State of New-York. Many of the most re- 
able members of that church are abolitionists. 
Let him remember when he associates with them 
around the table of the Lord, and partakes with 
the emblems of the Saviour's death, that he is 
still denouncing them as deluded fanatics, and reck- 
acendiaries, plotting the ruin of their country;, 
that he has often been engaged in measures which 
wrn intended t<> prevent their fulfilling duties. 
which they believed they were called upon, by the 
Bolemn and weighty obligations to their God 
and their country, to perform; and if he repent of 
nothing he has done, let him appear in his imagina- 
Mih them, before the Judge of all the earth. 
• all judges must l)r judged, and when he and 
they shall have gained admittance into that blissful 
■ here they both hope to enter, let him re- 
thai li«' is still denouncing them as deluded 
fanatics, and reckless incendiaries, and imagine the 
ling by and hearing these denunciations 
th complacency. <> God, is this religion ! Is this 
the heaven <>l the redeemed! No malice has enter- 
ed into the motives which dictate these reilcctions. 
They arc intended ;i- a soil mil appeal to all Chris- 
tians, to the principles by which they profess to be 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 9 9 

governed, to allay the uncharitable and truly unchris- 
tian spirit which prevails. It is in vain to attempt 
to make men believe in the peaceable religion of 
the meek and lowly Jesus, and in the regenerating 
influences of the Spirit of grace-, if the disciples of 
that religion are biting and devouring one another. 

With respect to the other individuals who were 
engaged in the reprehensible doings of the 21st Oc- 
tober, they are left to their own reflections. If they 
are sorry for their conduct, their repentance may al- 
lay the reproaches of their consciences-, though they 
can never make reparation for the mischiefs they 
have done to their country. If they are satisfied 
with what they have done, let them enjoy that dear- 
bought satisfaction. The day of retribution will 
soon come ; and though they may at first find many 
to applaud their conduct, as this blind infatuation 
subsides, they will gradually sink into silent con- 
tempt. The influence of their conduct, however, is 
still felt. It is not the names of the individuals 
who have done 3$, but the deed, whose destructive 
influence is already heard of from the farthest bounds 
of the republic. Charity will lead us to think that 
some of these men were ignorant of the conse- 
quences of their doings. Such are deserving of pity ? 
for having become the victims of artful seducers, 
who intended to use them as instruments of their 
own destruction. It is against the deed and its con- 
sequences that we war; their silence will screen 
them from personal attack ; but if they place them- 
selves in the field, and vainly attempt to justify or 
excuse a deed, in the perpetration of which the peo- 



Km) THE ENEMIES OF THE 

w charitably hope they were the unconscious 
instruments, they must expect to expose themselves 
to the Bcorn of the virtuous and the good. By this 
unconstitutional proceeding, carried on by men 
claiming respectability, a precedent has been es- 
tablished winch has emboldened the enemies of free- 
\. ho now begin to act openly, and endeavour to 
lead on their followers to sustain their mad projects. 
The fame of this infamous transaction has already 
oed from the uttermost bounds of the union. 
Who would have believed, that in this land of 
om and of laws, such acts would have been 
approved by men whose opinions we have been ac- 
customed to respect? That even the press itself 
»ped from its elevated and command- 
ing position to sanction measures and conduct so 
utterly destructive of the principles upon which the 
liberties of this country are suspended? But, alas! 
so blind and unconditional has become our adher- 
encc i" Party and to Favouritism, that we receive 
without investigation the interested opinions of their 
corrupt and pronig as, in regard to public 

■ d and unquestionable maxims, and 
ort with alacrity every measure which they pro- 
ling heedlessly on to our own ruin. 
Party, is a dangerous enemy in a popu- 
ivcrnment. Who ih.es not know that by a 
strong and efficient organization the people may be 
(subjected to a Bpecies of dictation more intolerable 
than despotic rule ! Whoare they that urge strict ad- 
herent They who are op- 
to the government of the people. Who de- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 101 

sire to govern by party, and to riot upon the spoils ? 
It is by the corrupting influences of party that this 
most shocking violation of the acknowledged rights 
of American citizens has gained the approval of 
many who would sacrifice the laws, the liberty of 
the citizens, and the constitution itself, to promote 
their own aggrandizement, or that of some favourite 
to whom they have become unconditionally devoted. 

It is this sanction which it has obtained which 
renders it so important in its ultimate results. Its 
poisonous influence has become widely diffused. A 
precedent is established ; how fatal, alas ! in its 
consequences, time alone will reveal. It is a pre- 
cedent which would well sustain the assemblage of 
a mob in the capitol of this republic, for the purpose 
of placing a favourite in the presidential chair. He 
who would attempt to palliate these deeds of vio- 
lence, or who would attempt to conceal the fact that 
they are brought about by a concert of purpose 
among designing men, is a deceiver. 

Numerous are the disguises in which these de- 
ceivers will appear. The means which they will 
employ to corrupt public sentiment will be as va- 
rious as the minds upon which they have to operate. 
Let us beware of their wiles, for whatever may be 
their character or pretences, they are practically our 
country's most deadly foes. 

We have seen who were the chief actors in break- 
ing up the Utica Convention ; their names have been 
recorded in connexion with their exploits. Of some 
of them this was the first essay at notoriety. They 
will do Avell to implore the indulgence of their coun- 



102 nil: ENEMIE8 OF THE 

cc hereafter. Let none of them boast of 
•J 1 , 1 B35. " Smothered be 

me of the inglorious action," nor let any claim 
the honour of an achievement, for which posterity 
will load them with execrations. 

S ae profligate journals, which seem not only 

tte of honesty, but devoid of all sense of the 

of honour, not satisfied with their disgraceful 
triumph over the laws and constitution, have the 
consummate baseness to reproach this Convention 
with cowardice. What act of this assembly ex- 
i them to such an imputation ? Let the reader 
appear, in his imagination, in the imperial city at a 
time when its liberties are assailed by a fierce and 
Bavage horde from beyond the Alps,* and witness 
the entrance of this* wild and terrific foe into the Fo- 
rum, where they behold the ancient senators of 
Rome, who had assembled with a determination to 
devote theil lives to their country's welfare, "seated 
in their order, defenceless, vet unmoved and un- 
daunn d," ami be will have a picture of this Conven- 
tion and th<ir assailants, with this difference, that 
in the former case the devotion, " majestic gravity, 
and the venerable looks of these old men, who had 
fox m red their country in different ca- 

pacities, awed the barbarous enemy into reverence ;' 
but the I n> \ Mob, (w th a few exceptions,) sunk 
hj int< mperance and vice infinitely lower in the 

of intellectual being, than the untutored Gauls, 
- allying forth from their original habitations? 

♦ UtC. 3G1. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 103 

devoid of shame, unawed by the dignity of virtue, 
had no sense of honour or decency to restrain their 
brutal rage ; and with this difference, that those who 
assailed the Fathers of Rome fought for their coun- 
try, its honour, and institutions ; but the assailants 
of the Utica Convention fought against their coun- 
try, its laws, and institutions. Who were the das- 
tards ? 

But it is said that the abolitionists are guilty of 
an act of unexampled temerity, in persisting in their 
opinions, when " public opinion" is strong against 
them. Why not silence their tongues by some ar- 
gument which will convince them of their error ? 
God himself, who is greater than " public opinion," 
did not make man free, and then exert, or even 
claim the right to exert, an arbitrary control over 
the exercise of his reason. 

Our country did not confirm to us this freedom, 
which God has given us, and then give to " public 
opinion" the right to take it away. 

He who is afraid to maintain his opinions against 
the world, is unworthy of the honour of an Ame- 
rican citizen, is unworthy of the dignity of a man. 
Is this temerity ? Let this temerity for ever be 
the boast of freemen ! It is the temerity which 
makes despots tremble-; which destroys the little less 
odious tyranny of party domination, maintains the 
sovereignty of the people, and despoils the political 
intriguer of his hopes. 

The violations of law which have been mentioned, 
have been considered with the utmost plainness and 
simplicity. It was necessary the subject should be 



]n| THE ENEMIES OF THE 

.1; no personal animosity has dictated a 
syllable The author has been actuated by a deep 
- 38 <>f duty to his country. His tongue 
and his pen arc yet unshackled. He claims the 
right to use them by virtue of a grant from the Au- 
thor of his being, sanctioned and confirmed by the 

rnmenl under which he has the happiness to 
live. Il< is ready to give up his property and his 
hie whenever the good of his country shall require 
that sacrifice. But the right to the legitimate exer- 
cise of his reason he will never surrender. The 
first lesson he was taught in childhood, was to ve- 
nerate the constitution and laws, with which our 
country is pre-eminently blessed. Who could have 

ined that it would be necessary so soon to de- 
fend them against so formidable an attack as that 
with which thev are now assailed. 



IV. 



ore we proceed further, it may be well to in- 
troduce .1 - timents on the subject of sla- 
very, not lor the purpose of showing the doctrines 
of the abolitionists to be correct, but for the pur- 
lowing, thai if he was vet hiring, he would 
nol consider it patriotism to deprive them of the 
right to discuss the subject. "The whole com- 
he, "between master and slave, is a 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 105 

perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, 
the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and 
degrading submissions on the other. Our children 
see this and learn to imitate it ; for man is an imi- 
tative animal. This quality is the germ of educa- 
tion in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learn- 
ing what he sees others do. If a parent had no 
other motive, either in his own philanthropy or his 
self love, for restraining the intemperance of his 
passion toward his slave, it should always be a suf- 
ficient one that his child is present. But generally, 
it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child 
looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on 
the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives 
a loose to his worst of passions ; and thus nursed, 
educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot 
but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The 
man must be a prodigy, who can retain his manners 
and morals under such circumstances. And with 
what execrations would the statesman be loaded, 
who, permitting one half of the citizens thus to 
trample on the rights of the other, transforms them 
into despots, and these into enemies, destroys the 
morals of the one part, and the amor patriae of the 
other. For if a slave can have a country in this 
world, it must be any other than that in which 
he is born to live and labour for another, in which 
he must lock up the faculties of his nature, con- 
tribute as far as depends upon his individual endea- 
vours to the evanishment of the human race, or en- 
tail his own miserable condition on the endless gene- 
rations proceeding from him. With the morals of 
10 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

eople, their industry also is destroyed. For 
in a warm . no man will labour for himself 

that ran make another labour for him. This is so 
true, that of the proprietors of slaves, a very small 

a indeed are ever seen to labour .... and can 
the liberties of a nation be ever thought secure, 
when we have removed their only firm basis, a con- 

i in the minds of the people, that these liber- 
ties are the gift of Grod? that they are not to be 
violated, hut with his wrath; indeed I tremble for 
my country when I reflect that God is just; that 

^ticc cannot sleep for ever ; that considering 
numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolu- 

i the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situa- 
tion is among possible events : that it may become 
probable by supernatural interference ! The Al- 
mighty has no attribute which can take sides with 

US in sueh a contest But it is impossible to 

be temperate, and to pursue this subject through the 
various considerations of policv, of morals, of his- 
fory, natural and civil. We must be contented to 

• ley will force their way into every one's mind. 
1 think a change already perceptible since the ori- 
gin "t' the • revolution. The spirit of the 
tine, that of the slave risino- from the 

his condition mollifying; the way I hope pre- 
paring under the auspices of Heaven, tor a total 

ipation, and that this is disposed in the order 

Ms, to he wiili the consenl of their masters, 
rather than by tl rpation."* 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 107 

The first public movement of Mr. Jefferson, and 
u the one in all probability," says an able biographer, 
" whose spirit and object were most congenial to his 
heart," was the introduction of a bill in the Virginia 
Legislature "for the permission of the emancipation 
of slaves." " The moral intrepidity," continues his 
historian, "that could prompt him, a new member, 
and one of the youngest in the house, to rise from 
his seat with the composure of a martyr and pro- 
pose" this measure " amidst a body of inexorable 
planters, gave an earnest of his future career too un- 
equivocal to be misunderstood. It was an act of 
self-immolation worthy the best model of Sparta or 
Rome. He was himself a slaveholder, and from 
the immense inheritance to which he had succeeded, 
probably one of the largest in the house. He knew 
too that it was a measure of public odium, running 
counter to the strongest interests and most intracta- 
ble prejudices of the ruling population ; that it would 
draw upon him the keenest resentment of the wealthy 
and the great, who alone hold the keys of honour 
and preferment at home, besides banishing for ever 
all hope of favourable consideration with the govern- 
ment. In return for this array of sacrifices, he saw 
nothing await him but the satisfaction of an approv- 
ing conscience and the distant commendalion of an 
impartial posterity. He could have no possible mo- 
tive but the honour of his country and the gratifica- 
tion of a warm and comprehensive benevolence. 
The bare announcement of the proposition gave a 
shock to the aristocracy of the house, which aroused 
their inmost alarms. It touched their sensibilities at a 



in*- THE ENEMIES OF THE 

most irritable point, and was rejected by a sudden and 
u\ < rwhelming vole. Indeed," continues this author, 
"it was but the glimmering of that principle which 
constituted the polar star of his (Mr. Jefferson's) 
whole destiny, and which afterward burst with such 
astonishing magnificence upon the world in that im- 
mortal manifesto of his country which proclaimed 
that ' all men are created equal, and endowed by 
their Creator with certain inalienable rights.' 

" It was the primary development of the work- 
ings of a mind which comprehended within the man- 
tle of its benignity every colour and condition of hu- 
man existence, and which saw beyond the 'rivers 
oi blood' and 'years of desolation,' which interven- 
ed, that enchanting vision which flashed upon hig 
earliest musings and kindled his expiring energies 
— the vision of emancipated man throughout the 
world."* 

From this will be seen the sentiments of this 
statesman, who lived where slavery existed, 
and knew much more of its effects than the noisy 
demagogues of the noilh, who are now attempting 
to justify or excuse it. He hoped that the eman- 
cipation of the slaves would take place with the 
consent oi their masters. The mode of emancipa- 
tion advocated by the abolitionists will appear from 
their published sentiments.! He well foresaw the 
rioua influence which the existence of slavery 
must have upon the liberties of the whole nation. 
u Can the liberties of a nation," says he, "be ever 

Wriim b and < 'pinions i f Thomas JefierBon, by Raynes. 
t Sec Appendix No. VII. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 109 

thought safe when we have removed their only firm 
basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that 
these liberties are the gift of God V We declare 
that " all men are born free and equal," But we 
see one half of the inhabitants of our country slaves, 
and becoming accustomed to this tyranny, we wit- 
ness it with indifference — -we suffer it, and at length 
approve and sanction it. We believe it right to 
hold the blacks in bondage. Upon inquiry we can 
find no difference between black and white, as re- 
spects their natural rights. We are therefore com- 
pelled to renounce the belief that man's personal 
freedom is the gift of God, and thus endanger the 
liberties of the whole nation. 

In ordinary times, if any intelligent citizen of 
this republic, whether he resided north or south of 
the Potomac, should declare that he had nothing to 
do with the subject of slavery, his patriotism would 
be justly distrusted. The recent acts of cruelty 
and oppression which have brought a reproach up- 
on our national character, and which have resulted 
directly or indirectly from slavery, have in a slight 
degree fulfilled what Jefferson foresaw would be its 
effects. The following extract, taken from a foreign 
paper of great respectability, will serve to show that 
foreigners are not unmindful of those occurrences 
which are bringing a reproach upon our character 
as a free people. 

" For some time past we have received nothing 

but melancholy intelligence from the United States 

of America — scenes of disorder and bloodshed, 

which make us shudder. One would be led to sup- 

10* 



I H > THE ENEMIES OF THE 

there were neither laws nor magistrates in that 
country. W hai is scarcely credible is, that it is not 
during the scence of a revolution that the 

I sort to ads of cruelty that fill us with hor- 

ror, bul in a time oi profound peace, and under the 
authority of a constitution recognised by all, the 
sanctuary oi private dwellings is violated. Nothing 
urd ot hut devastation, massacres, and hang- 
... Lnstead of closing a gambling house in 
gular manner, (provided such a course be jus- 
tiiied by law,) or suffering them to remain undisturb- 
ed, when allowed bylaw, the people take upon 
themselves to execute what they call justice; that 
'.hi' house is besieged and carried by as- 
sault, and its inmates instantly pu1 to death. What 
i> worse, however, and is difficult tor Europeans lo 
-land, accustomed as we arc, if not to perfect 
equality, at leasl to liberty, is the insurrection of the 
le on earth, in favour of 
. . The word emancipation alone, imprudently 
uttered, is a crime worthy of death. The unhappy 
is Be i zed !-\ the people, judged bythepeo- 
nd the bloody sentence is executed by the peo- 
ple. It appears as if tin magistrates l\o not dare 
iinsl tiu i people the authority derived 
from th< ui. 1 nation whdehprides itself upon be- 
in the universe, is roused i<> mad?iess 
and in order to maintain it, 
- wrbi< b could scarcely \>r deemed jus- 
li liable even in defence of its mosl sacred rights 
and ii. / qf slavery, which 

if lost hi ■//.,//, is popular m 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. Ill 

The cruelties which are witnessed south of the 
Potomac, all intelligent and discerning minds must 
admit, are owing to the corrupting influence of 
slavery. If these acts of oppression were sanction- 
ed by law, they would be more tolerable ; but this 
is not always the case ;. American citizens, who 
have committed no wrong against the laws of their 
country, are often subjected to severe punishment ; 
life and property are in many cases made to depend 
upon terms to which a man of honour and inde- 
pendence would scorn to submit — an abandonment 
of the right to speak his sentiments, the legitimate 
use of his reason. 

Nor is this state of things confined to the slave- 
holding states. The oppressions which were witness- 
ed there, may have been looked upon in other parts of 
the country at first, perhaps with horror, afterward 
with indifference, at length they are justified, and 
finally imitated and adopted, that attachment which 
exists between the different members of the republic, 
and the respect entertained by one, for the laws and 
institutions of the others, give to each an extensive 
influence over the whole. We may absurdly deny 
to the citizens of the north the right to exert their 
influence in ridding the country of slavery ; but the 
influence and effects of slavery have been felt, and 
will continue to be felt, in a rapidly increasing de- 
gree, in every part of the republic, from the borders 
of the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico ; and from the 
shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts; even 
the savage tribes will not be entirely free from its 
influence. No class of individuals, however high 



11_' THE ENEMES OF THE- 

their pretentions to purity, are removed beyond the 
corrupting influence of slavery; we see this exemplifi- 
ed in an eminent degree, it has even of late found its 
way into the pulpit ; ministers of the Gospel, who, if 
they had lived In the days of Jefferson, would have 

Lshamed of such conduct, arc apologists for 
slavery : nay, our blessed Saviour, the final 
J i dgb <»t all, is presented to mankind as its advocate, 
thus showing a manifest inconsistency between the 
l Christ, and the eternal and immutable 
laws of the Supreme. But while this great national 
evil is suffered to exist, and no effort made to re- 

it, and our children are inhaling the pestifer- 
ous atmosphere of the nation which it has corrupt- 
ed, we are cherishing a viper in our own bosoms.. 
We are not only endangering the liberties of Ame- 
rica, but bringing dishonour upon our government 
and institutions, in the eves of all mankind. Our 

: op] h ssicn, in spite of every attempt to ex- 
tenuate them, will be seen in their true character; 
they \\ ill be looked upon, notwithstanding the sacred 
garb of freedom under which it is attempted tocon- 
ceal them, as : • loathsome- despotism. 

It is vain, and foolish, to attempt to convince the 
people m any portion of the country, that they have 
nothing to do with the subject of slavery. It would 
be w< 11 to convin :e all. if possible, that this subject 
ought l" be treated with the utmost temperance and 
forbearance ; that slavery existed when the consti- 
tution was adopted ; that it has been recognised by 
the whole nation, and that the whole nation ouorht 

tribute with their money, if necessary, to re- 






CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 113 

lieve the south of this burden ; that, the emancipa- 
tion of the slave ought to be effected with the con- 
sent of the master ; that the national legislature 
have nothing to do with the subject ; and that the 
legislatures of the states where slavery exists, 
ought not to anticipate public opinion. But to at- 
tempt to gag them upon this subject, either by law 
or violence, under the hair-brained pretence that to 
agitate it will endanger the union, will be as futile 
as it will be destructive to the existence of the union 
itself. It will tend to render the union odious, by 
identifying it with tyranny and oppression, and a 
renunciation of their dearest rights. Let the wea- 
pons of reason only be employed in this contest, and 
all is safe. 

But the abolitionists have been wronged, insulted, 
abused, deprived of rights which they hold dearer 
than their lives. A disposition is manifested to 
push matters to extremities against them. They 
will not always submit. The proud spirit of the 
American will revolt. He will not submit to mea- 
sures which will render him as very a slave as the 
most degraded African on the southern plantations. 
In such a contest, on which side would the lover 
of liberty and the friend of the constitution be 
found I 

It is far from the design of the aut 1 or to utter a 
syllable in favour of the peculiar sentiments of the 
abolitionists. By a free and unrestrained discus- 
sion and deliberation upon the various modes of eman- 
cipation, and an intercommunication of the sentiments 
f the wise and prudent, in all parts of the country, 



Ill 

that winch wjii be-most agreeable to the views, and 
' with the interests of the master, and most 
condm ive to the welfare of the republic, will, with- 
out (!■ ivered and adopted. In fine, the 
author is Tree to confess, that he is a firm believer in 
trinea and policy of Jciferson ; and would 
-'iothing more than his sentiments on tliis 
rhal "error of opinion may safely be 
ided reason be left free to combat iu" 
w dune with the abolitionists. They 
have borne a conspicuous part in the treatment of 
it, because they happen to be the class of 
individuals who are deprived of the rights and pri- 
ich are here intendedtobe vindicated; and 
..\ have been the subjects of many of the 
of law, which are intended to 
aned. 

i now be little doubt that a new system 
"1 measures) unknown to the framers of our constitu- 
nd utterly subversive of that porious plan 
I under which our country has long 
a >ught to be introduced. How formi- 
dable this attempt has become, the people will judge 
from the want of respect for the constituted autho- 
md for individual rights, which every where 
appears, and from the specious arguments and pre- 
tences whi< h ate u>rd to justify their violation. It 
ii certain that this contempt for the constitution, 
and for the laws of thr land, did not originate with 
a drunken mob. Not did the rabble first inculcate 
the doctrine that u a higher obligation is due to 
ty than to the laws,* or that any "occasion 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



115 



should be left to find a law for itself" These so- 
phisms required greater subtlety than is ever found 
with the rabble; being peculiarly fitted, however, 
to the disposition of unprincipled and worthless 
beings, who have no employment but to commit 
depredations upon the peace and quiet of the com- 
munity, it is no w r onder that their practical results 
are seen far beyond the reach of their authors' fame. 
It \? not intended to misrepresent the sentiments 
of any man; those which have been spoken of ap- 
pear at another place in the language of their au- 
thors; but facts are candid reasoners, and if they 
prove these sentiments to be mischievous and de- 
structive in their tendency, it will require a strong 
argument to sustain them. That the people have a 
right to disregard the laws which they themselves 
have enacted, ought to be spurned with indignation : 
it is not true, under the present government in the 
United States. Let us hear what Washington says 
on this subject, in his last advice to the American 
people. 

" To the efficacy and permanency of your union, 
a government for the whole is indispensable. No 
alliances, however strict, hetween the parts, can be 
an adequate substitute ; they must inevitably expe- 
rience the infractions and interruptions, which all 
alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible 
of this momentous truth, you have improved upon 
your first essay by the adoption of a constitution, 
better calculated than your former, for an intimate 
union, and for the efficacious management of your 
common concerns. This government, the offspring 
of your own choice, uninfluenced and unaw T ed, adopt 



U6 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

ed upon full investigation and mature deliberation, 
completely free in its principles, in the distribution 
of its powers uniting security with energy, and con- 
tatning within itself a provision for its own amend- 
ment, has a claim to your confidence, and your sup- 
port. Respect for its authority, compliance with its 
laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoin- 
ed by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The 
basis of our political system, is the right of the peo- 
ple to make and to alter their constitutions of govern- 
ment. But the constitution which at any time ex- 
ists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act 
of the whole people, is sacredly obliga ory upon all. 
The very idea of the power and right of the peo- 
ple to cstabhsli government, presupposes the duty 
of even/ individual to obey the established govern- 
ment. 

u All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
combinations and associations, under whatever 
plausible character, with the real design to direct, 
control, counteract) or awe tlie regular deliberations 
and action of tlie constituted authorities, are de- 
structive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal 
tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give 
it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the 
place of the delegated will of the nation, the will 
of party, often a small but enterprising minority of 
the community ; and according to the alternate tri- 
umphs ot the different parties, to make the public 
administration the mirror of the ill concerted and in- 
congruous projects o\ faction, rather than the organ 
<t consistent ami wholesome plans, digested by 
Common Councils, and modified by mutual inte- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 117 

rests. However combinations or associations of 
the above description may now and then answer 
popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time 
and things, to become potent engines, by which cun- 
ning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be ena- 
bled to subvert tiic power of the people, and to 
usurp for themselves the reins of government; de- 
stroying afterward the very engines which have lifted 
them to unjust dominion." 

If any emergency should ever arise in the history 
of this country, for which there is not a sufficient legal 
provision, it is far better to suffer the inconvenience 
until such provision can be made, than to resort to a 
course which will give rise to sentiments tending to 
subvert the power of the magistrate, to impair that 
implicit confidence which the people ought to repose 
in the government, and finally to anarchy. Our 
laws are at present so ample in their provisions, that 
it is scarcely possible to imagine that such an emer- 
gency can ever arise. The fact that it is gravely 
urged by men of sense, that cases are daily arising 
which justify a resort to illegal measures, and that 
this disorganizing sentiment is rapidly spreading, 
proves its dangerous tendency. " The oppressor 
may find it very convenient to have no laws or ma- 
gistrate to keep him in check; but iv hat will the 
oppressed think of it?" 

It has even of late been intimated that the peo- 
ple may rise up and resist the power of the magis- 
trate, and destroy the authority with which they 
have invested him. 

This doctrine is peculiarly well fitted to the 
11 



118 Tin; ENEMIES OF THE 

Bchemea of aspiring men, who seek to control the 
popular will by inflammatory declamation, and to 
remove the barriers which have been set against the 
usurpation of power. 

The aspirant for poWer endeavours to make the 
: that an occasion may arise, in which 

it would be patriotism to overstep the bounds of the 
constitution, for he intends, at some auspicious crisis, 

- • upon that occasion to fulfil his ambitious 
3. It is said the people will take care of their 

libi rties notwithstanding; they need no constitution 
rd them against usurpation ; they will never 
sub mil to the yoke of a tyrant. Let. us not be un- 
mindful of tin- design of this canting hypocrisy. 
This is the favourite theme of the political aspirant. 
It is one of the most powerful instruments which he 
employs to accomplish his ends. All experience 

- it to he false. There is no safety to the 
liberties of a nation w hen the respect for its constitu- 
tion is destroyed, when its government and laws are 

giously observed. Have not tyrants obtained 
from the hands of the people, the very instruments 
which ihc\ have used to oppress them, by artfully 
ingratiating themselves into the popular favour. The 
constitution and laws are proof against intrigue and 

hui. They always speak the same language 
and Bentiments, and are nol subject to be moved by 

i or prejudice. But when the respect for 

them is destroyed, the bulwarks of our safety are 

removed; without these restraints the multitude 

I to be led into the most dangerous ex- 

. designing leaders, who make it their bu- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 119 

siness to court popular favour in order to pervert it. 
Upon the ruins of the constitution of a republic the 
throne of tyranny is most likely to be established. 
After the confidence of the people in the adequacy 
of their government is destroyed, in order that no ob- 
stacle against usurpation may remain, lest they 
should be apprized of the peril in which their liber- 
ties are placed, the next blow will naturally be level- 
led against the liberty of speech, and the freedom of 
the press. Upon this head nearly sufficient has al- 
ready been said, but, in conclusion, it will be well 
to consider the nature of this right, which is already 
sought to be invaded. Heretofore we have been ac- 
customed to consider that the right to speak and 
publish our sentiments was a perfect right, and that 
for its abuse we were only responsible to the regu- 
lar tribunals. But we are now told in effect that 
this right, of which our nation boasts, is only imagin- 
ary, that it is a vain phantom, which has long daz- 
zled the eyes of the citizens of this country, but which 
vanishes into air, when an attempt is made to lay 
hold of it, that there are certain restrictions upon it, 
which may be enforced, not by laws, but by an ap- 
peal to the hasty and bloody justice of the multitude. 
But lest these restraints should not be sufficient, 
we are already threatened with legal restrictions.* 
What is this right which we so strenuously claim, 
and from whence did it originate? By what pow- 
er was it granted? It is the right to the legitimate 
exercise of our reason, and it originated in the con- 
stitution of mankind. It was granted by the Sove- 

* See Appendix No. VI. Messages of the Governors of North, 
and South Carolina, and GeoTgia. 



TIIC ENEMIES OF THE 

THE UNIVERSE, that, which accords wilh 
i is a law of nature. These laws arc given 
For the benefit of mankind. Our reason is given us 
to develope them, our mouths to promulgate, and 
its to hear them; we are not even permitted 
voluntarily to abandon this right. We cannot do 
it without unfitting us for the designs of our exist- 
ence. What the Roman orator says of right rea- 
bc applied to this right, for which we 
are here contending; "it is," says he, " indeed a rule of 
law agreeable to nature, common to all men, con- 
stant, immutable, eternal ; it prompts men to their 
duty by its commands, and deters them from evil 
by it* prohibitions, It is not allowed to retrench 
any part of this law, nor to make any alterations 
therein, much less to abolish it entirely. Neither 
Senate nor people can dispense with it. * * 
» j T Is THE SAME AT Rom E and Athens : the 

.-ami: To-Dai and to-morrow. It is the same eter- 
nal and invariable law. given at all times and places 
to all nations; because God, who is the Author 
thereof, and has published it himself, is always the 
s.-le Master, Sovereign of mankind. Whoever vio- 
lates tins law renounces his own nature, divests 
himself of humanity, and will be rigorously chas- 
tised for In- disobedience, though he were to escape 
what is commonly distinguished by the name of 
punishment."* It the natural faculties of man are 
perverted, be is responsible for the abuse, and m 
Wircountry the legal remedies are ample. But he 

* 1> ' 1 ^ 1 e fipom Cioero, preaerred by Lactantius. Cicero de Ro 
pnbl. apod L*ctaqt. luetic Divin. Lib. 6, Cap 8, 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 121 

can under no pi-etence be deprived of these faculties 
or their legitimate use.* 

By what right will our legislators attempt to re- 
strain the liberty of speech ? Have they derived 
that power from the people 1 We claim this right 
by the laws of nature, and with these laws, neither 
the senate nor the people can dispense. Will they 
claim to have received this power from the Deity 
himself? Let them produce the documents grant- 
ing it, and we will consent to surrender a right 
which we cannot now surrender, without exposing 
ourselves to the just rebuke of heaven. If they 
had this power, how would they exercise it without 
establishing a precedent which would eventually 
be perverted to the destruction of liberty. We 
hold this right by no precarious tenure. It is 
confirmed to us by our constitution. Let, us declare 
to all who would infringe this right, that we are de- 
termined to vindicate and defend it ; that we are 
ready to die for our country, and for the cause of 
freedom, but that we cannot, will not surrender a 



* We are sometimes told that the people can do every thing. It 
ought well to be impressed upon the minds of the people that their 
power is not unbounded. There are bounds which have been fixed 
by the immutable principles of justice. They have no right to do 
wrong. The liberties of a single individual, which have been guard- 
ed by established laws, are sacred, and cannot rightfully be invaded 
even by the united voice of the whole nation besides. When it shall 
become the ruling sentiment that the power of the people is un. 
bounded, we may bid a long farewell to the freedom of our country # 
The tyranny of a single individual is far more tolerable than the ty- 
ranny of many. Power is the delight of tyrants, but let justice be 
the delight of freemen. 

11 * 



-j'jn: ENEMIES of the 

righl which constitutes the safeguard of our consti- 
tution, the firmest support of our liberties. 

But how, we shall naturally inquire, are we to 
avoid the dangerous crisis to which our government 
approaching? How shall we again 
its authority ! How shall the supremacy of 
the laws and constitution, and the power of the ma- 
gistrate, be vindicated and maintained ! How shall 
- E spirit of anarchy be crushed, and the 
liberties oi our country established upon a founda- 
tion, whi< h shall defy the wily attacks of ambitious 
men ; Only by a firm adherence to the doctrine, 
thai our liberties are the gift of God ; that the high- 
ligation we owe to God requires us to obey 
his laws; and that the highest obligation we owe to 
ty requires us to obey its laws: by living to 
the defence of our fellow-citizen, however humble 
and obscure his condition, against every the least 
■ bment upon his legal rights; by treating as 
emy, a da enemy, as a traitor to our 

constitution, the man who shall in any case encou- 
rage tl ss of grievances, real or imaginary, by 
popular fury, by throwing off the galling yoke of 

1 gi tnce to this 

.M eternal and un- 

tional allegiance to cur God and our country. 

Lei this be our motl — " Perish Commerce, Perish 

I party, perish Van Buren, pe- 

, Harrison, and WebsU r. P< rish the 

y, rather than submit to the deslruc- 

i I constitution, the ruin of our 

reign of tyranny and oppression in 

plausible sha] e they may appear. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 
Establishment of a Censorship of the Press. 
On the 3d of August a large public meeting was held at 
the City Hall of Charleston, at the call of the City Council, 
This meeting appointed a committee of 21 members to take 
charge of the United States' mail, and at a future meeting report 
the means best adapted to put down the abolitionists. We have 
not at hand a list of this committee, but suffice it to say, it is 
headed by Ex-Senator Hayne, and composed of the mightiest 
men of Charleston. They have already quarantined the mail steam- 
boats, and established a regular censorship of the mail itself. 
They take the liberty to arrest every package which is in their 
judgment "incendiary." — In the mean time, the following letter 
of instructions to the Postmaster at Charleston has been pub- 
lished : 

Pest-Office Department, 5th August, 1835. 
Sir — My views in relation to the subject of your letter of the 
3d instant, may be learned from the enclosed copy of a letter to 
the Postmaster at Charleston, S. C. dated 4th inst. 
Very respcctfullv, your obt. servant, 

AMOS KENDALL. 
Edm'd Anderson, Asst. P. M. Richmond, Va. 

Post- Office Department, August 4th, 1S35. 
P. M., Charleston, S. C. 

Sir— In your letter of the 29th ult. just received, you inform 
me that by the steamboat mail from New-York your office had 
been filled with pamphlets and tracts upon slavery— that the 
public mind was highly excited upon the subject— that you 
doubted the safety of the mail itself out of your possession— that 



124 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

wised coarse, to detain these papers 
— and yoa n>'\v ask instructions from the Department. 

I pon a careful examination of the law, I am satisfied that the 

ter Genera] baa do legal authority to exclude newspapers 

■ mail, norprohibit their carriage or delivery on account of 

their character or tendency, real or supposed. Probably it was not 

thought safe to confer on the head of an executive department 

a power over the press, which might be perverted and abi 

Hut 1 am not prepared to direct you to forward or deliver the 

of which you sp< I ■ Post-office Department was 

rve the \ »■•> pie of each and of all of the United States, 

and not to be used as the instrument of their destruct ion. None 

of the | tied have been forwarded to me, and I cannot 

ir myself their character and tendency ; but you inform 

r, " the most inflammatory and in- 

rv — and insurrectionary in the highest degrt 

I5y ii" act or direction of mine, official or private, could I be 

giving circulation to papers of this 

description, directly or indirectly. We owean obligation to the 

■ the communities in which we live, and 

if the for ..„. ,- be perverted to destroy the latter, it is patriotism 

Entertaining these views, ] Mction } 

and will not condemn the step von have taken. 

I for in the character of the 
• umstances by which you are sur- 
ded. 

the community in which we 

ran i" its laws, and if any, such as Ames 

I destroy the 

shed them, these 

. and not disregard the lares. 

• perversion, no arts of int collu- 

• the tidelit the spirit and true intent of a 

the United States. It is the same at Boston 

to-morrow. We have 

I false interpretations, and go right on 

renderii I unqualified obedience to the laws themselves. 

The i'' ition which we owe to the community 

in which we live requires us to violate others, or in other words, 

lirt s us to violate its requirements, 

attempt at refu- 

• 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED, 125 

No. II. 

Letter from the Postmaster General creating ten thou- 
sand Censors of th^ Press. 

fo-!-OjT. e Depart m>„,22dAu?iis! i 1835. 
To Sam'l. L. Gouverneur, Postmaster at New-York : 

Sir — Your letter of the 11th inst. purporting to accompany a 
letter from the American Anti-Slavery Society, and a resolution 
adopted by them, came duly to hand, but without the documents 
alluded to. Seeing them published in the newspapers, however, 
I proceed to reply without waiting to receive them officially. 

It was right to propose to the Anti-Slavery Society voluntarily 
to desist from attempting to send their publications into the 
southern states by public mails ; and their refusal to do so, after 
they were apprised that the entire mails were put in jeopardy by 
them, is but another evidence of the fatuity of the counsels by 
which they are directed. 

After mature consideration of the subject, and seeking the 
best advice within my reach, I am confirmed in the opinion, that 
the Postmaster General has no legal authority, by any order or 
regulation of his department, to exclude from the mails any spe- 
cies of newspapers, magazines, or pamphlets. Such a power vest- 
ed in the head of this department would be fearfully dangerous, and 
has been properly withheld Anv order or letter of mine directing 
or officially sanctioning the step you have taken, would therefore 
be utterly powerless and void, and would not, in the slightest 
degree, relieve you from its responsibility. 

But to prevent any mistake in your mind, or in that of the 
abolitionists, or of the public, in relation to my position and view, 
I have no hesitation in saying, that I am deterred from giving an 
order to exclude the whole series of abolition publications from 
the southern mails only by a want of legal power ; and that if I 
were situated as you are, I would do as you have done,* 



* Such are the sentiments of the Postmaster General of the 
United States. " To prevent any mistuke," he has taken special 
care to expose his rotten principles to the view of the whole 
nation. Lest Mr. Gouverneur and the abolitionists should after 
all fail to see his shame, he explicitly confesses that it is the 
want of legal power alone, that deters him from conduct far more 
arbitrary, than that which occasioned our disseverance from 



126 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

fullj kn-.w in all cases the contents of 
pers, because the law expressly provides that they shall 
I ut up that they may be readily examined; and if they 
know those contents to be calculated and designed to produce, 
anil if delivered, will certainly produce the commission of the 
rimes upon the property and persons of their fel- 
low-citizens, it cannot be doubted thai it is their duty to detain them, 
if not even to hand them over to the civil authorities.* The Post- 

the dominions of (ire a Britain. He would exclude from the 
southern mails the whole series of publications which advocate 
sentiments differing from bis own. He would establish a censor- 
ship of the press more odious than the world has ever before 
witnessed. II infessbs that it is the want of power alone 
WHICH prevents His doing this. -Mr. Gouvemeur has already 
done it, and he has sanctioned his conduct. "And yet we must 
bear it in this land of liberty ; we must submit." Mr. Kendall 
what the author has before asserted, that there are tyrants 
in OUT country as well as in others, who are restained from acts 
ofthe mot intolerable oppression only by the " iruni ofpoirei." 

' It't should so happen hereafter that newspapers, committed to 
the pi >>t -office, sh< >uld become addicted to going out at nights stealing 
sheep, or committing robbery, or murder, or any other such heinous 
crime " up^n the }>rupert>j and persons of their Jelluw-citht ris," 
and Bhould be caught in the very act by any person, that person, 
whether he were a Postmaster or private citizen, would be author- 
ized by the common bra, not only to " detain" such offending 
ut"/" hand it over to the civil authorities," even 
without any warrant for that purpose But in other cases, and 
even in the foregoing (unless the offending newspaper should 
be likelj to escape in the mean time) it would generally be neces- 
sar} to applj on oath to a magistrate, and procure his precept to 
be issued to the proper officer, because the Postmasters do not 
take the necessary oath to qualify them to execute these duties. 
[a all cases the cl nst the newspaper must be verified 

by the oaths of disinterested witnesses, and moreover the accused 
new-paper would be entitled to .. speedy public trial before an 
impartial jury, and ought claim the right to be confronted with 
against it, to have compulsory process for its wit- 

ustance of counsel in its defence. But until 
newspapers become addicted to these overt acts of criminality, 
I bave to employ another species of weapons in eombat- 
>"-' " ' When Mr. Kendall wrote this clause he 

undoubted!} looked forward in his imagination to a more im- 
proved and hiL-hk cultivated Btate of society, when Postmasters 
should become omniscient as well as just, so' as infallibly to know 

• •■ r contents arc calculated and designed to 
. tUl certainly m-oduce," and thence to 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 127 

master General has no legal power to prescribe any rule for the 
government of Postmasters in such cases, nor has he ever attempt- 
ed to do so. They act in such case upon their own responsibility, 
and if they improperly detain or use papers sent to their offices 
for transmission or delivery, it is at their peril, and on their heads 
falls the punishment.* 

If it be justifiable to detain papers passing through the mail, for 
the purpose of preventing or punishing isolated crimes against 
individuals, how much more important it is that this responsibi- 
lity should be assumed to prevent insurrections and save communi- 
ties ! If in time of war, a Postmaster should detect the letter of an 
enemy or spy passing through the mail, which if it reached its des- 
tination would expose his country to invasion and her armies to 
destruction, ought he not to arrest it '? Yet, where is his legal 
power to do so ?f 

From the specimens I have seen of the anti- slavery publica- 
tions, and the concurrent testimony of every class of citizens 
except the abolitionists, they tend directly to produce, in the 
south, evils and horrors surpassing those usually resulting from 
foreign invasion or ordinary insurrection. From their revolting 
pictures and fervid appeals addressed to the senses and the pas- 
sions of the blacks, they are calculated to fill every family with 

act justly and impartially. It is much to be doubted whether we 
shall have such Postmasters during the present generation, at 
least while Mr. Kendall remains at the head of the Department. 

* " Pretty good Indian, one truth to two lies." This is a correct 
position, except as to the fact of Mr. Kendall's attempting to 
prescribe rules, &c. 

f Does not the law of nations give this right 1 By the hypo- 
thesis the individual who employs the mail for this purpose is a 
common enemy, and entitled to no rights or protection under the 
municipal laws. It is in " time of war " and the rules of war must 
govern, for the belligerents acknowledge no authority but the au- 
thority of the God of battles. But is it come to this, that a large 
and highly respectable class of our brethren and fellow-citizens 
are proscribed as common enemies, and denied the rights of Ame- 
rican citizens 1 Is an appeal already made to the laws of war "? 
Let it be declared to the world then, by an open and public decla- 
ration of hostilities. The abolitionists, if they are treated as a 
common enemy, are entitled to his privilege. When an appeal is 
made to laws of war, as between the contending parties, the mu- 
nicipal law must cease, and when the municipal law resumes its 
authority, the laws of war must cease. 



ENEMIES OF THE 

. ; produce, at no distant day, an exterminating servile 
ravated is the character of those papers, that the 
, with an unanimity never witnessed 
have evinced in public mcet- 
. i determination to seek de- 
I to their circulation by any 
means, ' ■ er is to be resisted ; but 

power bi lefi n :e is not lawless. 

ich is the pow< r whose elements are now agitating the 
south, the uni of that section religiously believe ; and 

11 be their impression, it will require the array 
(•fannies to carry the mails with safety through their territories, if 
• instrument uf those who are sup- 
ion. * 

;• of the i 1 publications, 
I iierc is 
; • idle declama- 
- from a vacant skull, to supply the 
, and ( ndid reason!!:;. Why did not Mr. 
of these papers, and endeavour to 
fair deductions thai they are really calculated 
which he has here depic i ! i; he was 
afraid to take this n anlj course, the honesty, which the school- 
tent, ought to have 
I him from ; inging this grave and solemn accu- 

his fellow-citizens ; acharge which 
mrage to attempt to sustain. 
e ilia! peo| 

n them. • 

i it is urn 

si he prin- 

i 

: their reign 
e m di fi r< 

■ rs and dini< I 

d .1! classes <d" people, iiiled 

. . cul ited, as a laT 
. believe, to enrage one portion 

of the i t of their sentiments, 

• ■■ the coBSti- 

fun of mobs, internal broils, and 

't and horrors supassivg those 

cary ins* m 

• right for i' ch publications as 

n would hav< e right; but we may rest 

ill would demur to Us exercise in such acase 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 129 

As a measure of great public necessity, therefore, you and the 
other Postmasters who have assumed the responsibility of stop- 
ping these inflammatory papers, will, I have no doubt, stand jus- 
tified in that step before your country and all mankind.* 

as this. Let the people have this right, and the career of Mr. Ken- 
dall and his coadjutors would be of short duration ; but they 
neither possess, nor ought ever to desire to possess, a right to vio- 
late the laws which they themselves have enacted. Let us again 
suppose that the immense number of copies of " Temperance Re- 
corder," published at the City of Albany, which have been circula- 
ted throughout the civilized world, should create among the grog 
drinkers and grog sellers the highest degree of rage and madness, 
and that these grog drinkers and sellers, and all in their interest, 
should hold anti-temperance meetings, pass violent and threatening 
resolves, declaring that unless that fanatical and "incendiary" 
temperance publications, and the "misguided and deluded" ad- 
vocates of the cause, are put down at all hazards, they will not only 
refuse to support Van Buren, but put to a bloody and indiscrimi- 
nate massacre of every friend of temperance who should come with- 
in the reach of their vengeance ; what shall be done in this case \ 
Why, obviously Mr. Kendall must give " an order to exclude the 
whole series of temperance publications from the mail ;" or if he 
does not, he will be deterred only by the " want of legal power ;" 
and the Sub-Postmasters will have to exclude them " on their own 
responsibility" and get his approbation afterward. But suppose 
these grog drinkers and sellers, instead of threatening to forsake 
Van Buren, should bind themselves " under a great curse" to 
oppose Webster with their whole force, unless all temperance 
papers should be excluded from the mails, and should moreover 
threaten to rise up in rebellion against the government. "Ah," 
says Mr. Kendall, " that alters the case : I must inquire into the 
affair; and if— and if— The Post-office department is regu- 
lated by law, and I have pledged to my country my sacred honour, 
under the solemnity of an oath, to act in strict accordance with 
that law. These papers are lawfully in the mails ; the advocates 
of temperance have a right to speak, and unite their sentiments, 
and send their papers by mail to all who are disposed to take 
them : and if any class of men get into a rage, and attempt to de- 
prive them of this right, and to dissolve the union and create a 
great excitement, so as to disturb the quiet of the community and 
the public safety, the friends of temperance are not to blame for 
all this, nor ought they to be punished ; but the punishment must 
fall upon the wrong doers, upon the agitators of this violence, 
upon the breakers of the law, the invaders of the rights of their 
fellow citizens." * Remember, that resistance with armed force is 
TREASON.' 

* This conclusion must of course fail, if Mr. Kendall's fcrmei 
positions are unsound. 

12 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

I; perhaps the legal right of the abolitionists to make use 
of the public mails in distributing their insurrectionary papers 

■ lit the southern stat< - is not so clear as they seem to 

When those Btates became independent they acquired 
to |ir..bibit the circulation of such papers within their ter- 
ritories ; and their power over the subject of slavery and all its 
incidents, was in no degree diminished by the adoption by the fe- 
mstitution. It is still as undivided and sovereign as it was 
when they were first emancipated from the dominion of the king 
and parliament of Great Britain. In the exercise of that power, 
some of those states have made the circulation of such papers a 
capital crime ; others have made it a felony, punishable by con- 
il in the penitentiary; and perhaps there is not one among 
them which has not forbidden it under heavy penalties. If the 
abolitionists <>r their agents were caught distributing their tracts 
in Louisiana, they would be legally punishable with death; if 
they were apprehended in Georgia, they might be legally sent to 
the penitentiary ; and in each of the slave-holding states they 
would Miller the penalties of their respective laws. 

Mow, have these people a legal right to do by the mail carriers 
and Postmasters of the United States, acts, which if done by them- 
selves or their agents, would lawfully subject them to the punish- 
ment due to felons of the deepest dye ! Are the officers of the 
United States compelled by the constitution and laws, to become 
the instruments and accomplices of those who design to baffle 
and make nugatory the constitutional laws of the states — to fill 
them with sedition, murder, and insurrection — to overthrow those 
institutions which are recognised and guaranteed by the consti- 
it » If ' • 
And IS it entirely certain, that any existing law of the United 
would protect mail carriers and Postmasters against the 
penalties of the state laws, if they shall knowingly carry, distri- 
bute, or hand out any of these forbidden papers ! If a state, by a 
constitutional law, declare anj specific act a crime, how are 

■ ■1 the United States, who may he found guilty of that 

,11 this it may be answered, that the laws of the states have 
no force or validity beyond their own limits, and have no claim 
to the obedience Of any individual residing beyond these limits. 
This doctrim is too plain to require illustration. If any further 
aiib'.v, r can be n. cessary, it will be found in what follows. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 131 

act, to escape the penalties of the state law 1 It might be in vain 
for them to plead that the post-office law made it their duty to 
deliver all papers which came by mail. In reply to this argument 
it might be alleged, that the post-office law imposes penalties on. 
Postmasters for "improperly" detaining papers which come by the 
mail, and that the detention of the papers in question is not im- 
proper, because their circulation is prohibited by valid state laws. 
Ascending to a higher principle, it might be plausibly alleged, 
that no law of the United States can protect from punishment 
any man, whether a public officer or citizen, in the commission 
of an act which the state, acting within the undoubted sphere of 
her reserved rights, has declared to be a crime. Can the United 
States furnish agents for conspirators against the states and clothe 
them with impunity 1 May individuals or combinations deliber- 
ately project the subversion of state laws and institutions, and 
lighting their lirebrands beyond the jurisdiction of those states, 
make the officers of the United States their irresponsible agents 
to apply the flames 1 Was it to give impunity to crime, that the 
several states came into the Union, and conferred upon the general 
government the power " to establish post-offices and post-roads." 
In these considerations there is reason to doubt, whether these 
abolitionists have a right to make use of the mails of the United 
States to convey their publications into states where their circula- 
tion is forbidden by law ; and it is by no means certain, that the 
mail carriers and Postmasters are secure from the penalties of 
that law, if they knowingly carry, distribute, or hand them out, 
Every citizen may use the mail for any lawful purpose. The 
abolitionists may have a legal right to its use for distributing 
their papers in New-York, where it is lawful to distribute them ; 
but it does not follow that they have a legal right to that privilege 
for such a purpose in Louisiana or Georgia, where it is unlawful. 
As well may the counterfeiter and the robber demand the use of 
the mails for consummating their crimes, and complain of a viola- 
tion of their rights when it is denied. * 

* This is emphatically "darkening counsel by words without 
knowledge." What confusion of thought is here evinced? Very 
few would suspect that this was meant for reasoning. The ques- 
tion presented is this — Will the laws of the United States protect 
mail carriers and Postmasters in yielding obedience to their re- 
quirements, when they are contravened by state laws, as in the 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

Upon these grounds a Postmaster may well hesitate to be tlie 
• the abolitionists in sending their incendiary publications 

!.!i' Are these laws of the United States constitu- 

rhis i- not denied. It is doubtless admitted, for Mr. 

Kendall and ever] I ■ n an oath to support and 

hem. Will Mr. Kendalldare pretend that these laws are. 

not within the powers of the general government ' Why then did 

■: thenij an oath which lie knew he must 

Will he confess thai his views on the subject of their 

constitutionality an ' Will he, in short, boldly assert that 

the laws regulating this establishment are void, and that he has 

hitherto acted without authority I But no attempt has been made 

to show that the <_ r «'neral government, in enacting these laws, 

i itutional powers. 

Until, therefore, Mr. Kendal] aavuires boldness to make this 
attempt (when he will doubtless be met in due form), we must 
take it tor granted that e acts of < . Emulating the 

oarriage and delivery of Is, and pamphlets, 

rHE lano," and that " the jw 
be bound thereby y any thing in the constitution 
or lairs of n/u/ state to the e :■."' 13 ut Mr. 

'I inquires — li' a constitutional state law should come in 
collision with this -'"//•, which must yield I Profound 

I It' an irresistible body should rush headlong against an 

body, what would he the effect 1 which must yield 7 
Wonder, (J ye philosophers, and In astonished, ye knights of 
thunder ! \\ e can im igine no other effeel from such a collision 
than a great noise, like the effeel of Mr Kendall's irregular and 
■ions. But which must yield 1 We shall he relieved 
lrom deciding this question, and that presented above, by remem- 
I that Buch cases never occur. Both suppositions are absurd. 

Whenil is remembered that tin point it already conceded, that 
the law ■> ,.t the I nited States requiring the transmission of these 
papers bj the mail carrirrs, and their delivery by the Postmasters 
! law-, and supreme in their authority, it follows from the 
first principle m ethics that no power on earth can rightfully ob- 
struct their operation. 

Ail laws, bj whatever authorities enacted, forbidding what they 

command to be done, are necessarily void and of no effect. 'Phis 

1^ the way then in which the mall carriers arid Postmasters 

pe the |iena hies of .Male laws, » and all other laws 

which I carr) ing and delivering the papers in question. 

■ the hi,,-;' the Postmaster (in, (ml is 

■ ■ ispapers from 

on account of' then 

" [fanj answer should be 

required to the constant and unproved imputations which Mr. 
k'"' 1 - 1 ' : " employ respecting the abolitionists and their 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 133 

into states where their circulation is prohibited by law, and much 
more may Postmasters residing in those states refuse to distribute 
them. Whether the arguments here suggested are sound or not, 
ef one thing there can be no doubt : — If it shall ever be settled by 
the authority of Congress, that the Post-office establishment may 
be legally, and must be actually employed as an irresponsible 
agent, to enable misguided fanatics, or reckless incendiaries, to 
stir up with impunity insurrection and servile war in the southern 
states, those states will of necessity consider the general govern- 
ment as an accomplice in the crime — they will look upon it as 
identified in a cruel and unconstitutional attack on their unques- 
tionable rights and dearest interests, and they must necessarily 
treat it as a common enemy in their means of defence. Ought 
the Postmaster or the Department, by thrusting these papers upon 
the southern states now, m defiance of their laws, to hasten a 
state of things so deplorable ?* 

writings, it will be found by a recurrence to the preceding remarks 
continued in note on (p. 128). We will pass over this clause by 
reminding him, that 

" Hyperboles so daring and so bold," 
Lawless are, yet by honesty controlled. 

* No part of this clause, it is presumed, was meant for argu- 
ment. The first part, in effect, advises Postmasters to refuse to 
forward abolition publications " to states where their circulation 
is prohibited by law ;" and the Postmasters residing in those 
states to refuse to deliver them to the persons entitled to them, in 
cases where they have been sent. So, his " want of legal power" 
has not saved us, after all, from this tyrannical measure ; nay, 
the press is already subjected to the authority of tkn thousand 
Censors. What remains was doubtless intended to apprize the 
coming Congress that it is to be forced into a compliance with 
the demands of the south i and in case it shall have the dignity 
and independence to refuse, that then the glorious scheme of nul- 
lification is to be introduced into the very Capitol, under the sanc- 
tion and favour of " the powers that be." 

In answer to all that remains it may justly be said, that if Mr 
Kendall and Mr. Gouverneur had maintained a stern and uncom- 
promising integrity to the trust committed to them, an inflexible 
determination to uphold the supremacy of the laws, and not to 
deviate from the course of conduct which the legislature had pre- 
scribed, and which they had bound themselves to pursue, under 
the solemnity of an oath, this conduct would have been infinitely, 
more wise, safe, and expedient than that which they have adopted. 

This is perhaps the most extraordinary public document that 

xz* 



JUL ENEMIES OF THE 

I d>» not desire to 1"- understood as afTa-ming that the sugges- 

n thrown oat, ought, without the action of higher autho- 

be considered as the settled construction of the law, or 

re as tin- rule of their future action. It is 

only intended to Bay, that in a sadden emergency, involving prin- 

ve ami consequences so serious, the safest course for 

. and the best for the country, is that which you have 

It prevents the certain seizure of all the mails in the aggrieved 

iih .i view to the interception and destruction of the ob- 

ra — the interruption of commercial and friendly cor- 

respondencc — the loss of confidence in the safety of the mailcon- 

- — and the probable overthrow of the authority of the 

United States, as fir as regards the Post-oiTice establishment, 

throughout halfthe territory of the Union. 

It prevents a Bpeedy interruption of commerce and trade bc- 
tween the i itiea of the north and the south; for there are abun- 
dant evidences, that the vessels or steamboats which should be 
ighted with these papers, whether in the mail 
ox out. would not long be suffered to float in safety in the south- 
ern po 

It allays, in some degree, the excited feelings of the white man 
again8l the blaek; which changes the dominion over the slave 
• of mildness to one of severity, and puts the free negro 
in imminent peril of his life. 

\ on .a o-d being made yourself the agent and accomplice of 
Mind fanaticism or wicked design, in a course of proceedings, 
which, if sue Id not fail to repeat, on our shores, the 



itry, and, taken with the preceding, 
i !i productive of greater mischief than any other single 
cause since the commencement of our national existence. The 
sentiments which these letters contain hive already extended 
their fatal influence in! i irtmentofour moral system. 

\ which this effect is produced we have before con- 
Wheri we consider the utter fallacy of almost every po- 
sition which these letters assume, thai the writer has adopted the 
popular clamour, and the Bubtlety which is displi yed throughout, 
and when we also consider that the great body of the people make 
no pretensions to knowledge of these subjects, we can hardly 
come to any other conclusion than that .Mr. Kendall intended to 
them and lead them Sstrai . 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 135 

horrors of St. Domingo, and desolate with exterminating war half 
the territory of our happy country. 

You prevent your government from being made the unwilling 
agent and abetter of crimes against the states which strike at 
their very existence, and give time for the proper authorities to 
discuss the principles involved, and digest a safe rule for the fu- 
ture guidance of the Department. 

While persisting in a course whieh philanthropy recommends 
and patriotism approves, I doubt not that you and the other Post- 
masters who have assumed the responsibility of stopping these 
inflammatory papers in their passage to the south, will perceive 
the necessity of performing your duty in transmitting and deli- 
vering ordinary newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, with per- 
fect • punctuality. Occasion mast not be given to charge the Post- 
masters with carrying their precautions beyond the necessities of 
the case, or capriciously applying them to other cases in which 
there is no necessity ; and it would be the duty as well as the in- 
clination of the Department, to punish such assumptions with 
unwonted severity. This suggestion I do not make because I 
have any apprehension that it is needed for your restraint ; but 
because I wish this paper to bear upon its face a complete expla- 
nation of the views which I take of my own duty in the existing 
emergency. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Amos Kendall. 

No. III. 

PUBLIC MEETING. 

At a large and respectable meeting* of the citizens of Utica, 
convened pursuant to public notice, at the Court-room in the 
Academy, on the 17th day of October, 1835, for the purpose of 
takino- into consideration the resolution of the Common Council, 
passed last evening, granting permission for the holding of a 
State Abolition Convention in this place, on motion of Hon. Sam. 
Beardsley, Rudolph Snyder, Esq. was appointed President, and 

* Many respectable citizens, it cannot be denied, were at the 
meeting ;*but the most 'patriotic, loud, and clamorous expressions 
of indignation at the vote of the Common Council emanated from 
that class of " peaceable and reputable citizens," who acted so 
conspicuous a part in the doings of the Wednesday following. 



Till: ENEMIES OF THE 

John C Devereux, Ephraim Hart, Ezra S. Barnum, Kellogg 
lowman, Nicholas Smith, and John. B. Pease, 
,1 motion of 1). Wager, Esq. Isaiah Tif- 
fanv and William C. i re chosen Secretaries. 

S Beardsley, a committee of five was 

U (1 by the chair, to prepare and report Resolutions expres- 

ag, consisting of the following: — 

1 M. Churchy Rutger B- Miller, 

B I! Lansing. 

After the committee had retired, the Hon. Joseph Kirkland, 

. entered th< . and being invited to a 

.dent, made a -short address, in which, from 

licacy towards another body over which he presided, 

he declined the invitation ; but at the same time expressed his 

sition to the resolution of the Common Council, 

which occasioned the present meeting * 

ifter a .short recess, by Hon. S. Beardsley, its 
chairm d the following preamble and resolutions for 

the considi ration of the meeting; which having been read, and 
tin- meeting having been addressed by several gentlemen, wero 
adopted. 

Qtica, here convened, deem it unnecessary to 
i 'ii- oftheir decided hostility to the movements 
ially to the assembling of their Con- 
vention in this city on the 21st instant, or at any other time. 
Their views upon this subject have, on former occasions, been 
ed and reiterated : they arc unchanged, and probably un- 
. 'If. The public condemnation of these movements is 
i. re, nearlj unanimous ; and the present meet- 
i called forth only 1>\ the new and unexpected atti- 

leUcacy" v\ill the public believe this man 
I ed toward i!i«' body over which he presided, when he could 

short address," and counte- 
iii the most decided and emphatic manner, proceedings 
reproaching the conduct and character of that body. His "ieel- 
icy M were doubtli aliar character. When 

inch complained of, was passed, Gen Kirk- 
I md .'i coui ...s assured the ( Souncil, that 

the; had a complete legal warrant for that act; and nov< be is at- 
tempting t-> nullify a legal a\h\ valid act of thai body—to destroy 
a authority. This was a «/< bcab situation to be sure. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 137 

tude which has been assumed by the Common Council. This 
meeting has learned, with no less surprise than regret and morti- 
fication, that the Common Council of this city, last night, by a 
vote of seven to four, assumed to grant permission for the hold- 
ing of a State Abolition Convention on the 21st instant, at the 
place where we are now assembled. It is this vote which has 
brought the present meeting together ; a vote, for which we see 
nothing like a justification, nor indeed an apology, and which, 
looking to the previous acts and declarations of several of the 
Aldermen who sustained it, is wholly inconsistent with those acta 
and declarations.* 

Therefore, Resolved, That the said vote of a majority of said 
Common Council is regarded by this meeting, not only as a fla- 
grant usurpation of power, as that body has no rightful authority 
to grant such permission, but as a direct indignity to the good 
citizens of this place, f 



* The Aldermen who voted for this resolution, are far from 
deserving this insinuation of inconsistency. The respect and 
esteem which they receive from the community where they are 
known, is well worth the emulation of the best among their tra- 
duce rs. 

t Seven Aldermen voted for the resolution and four against it. 
One member of the Council, who is distinguished for his firm- 
ness and integrity, and a fearless discharge of his duties, who was 
absent at the time the resolution was passed, afterward express- 
ed his regret that he was deprived of the satisfaction of adding his 
own vote to those by which it was carried. It is now pretty well 
understood, that this violent and unwarrantable opposition to the 
authority of the Common Council, and the ungenerous aspersions 
cast upon the members of that body, were employed by a few in- 
dividuals as a political movement, to obtain, by stratagem, what 
they had not been able to obtain by fair and open conduct — a po- 
litical ascendency in the city — by producing among the citizens 
disaffection and distrust toward those with whom they had in- 
trusted the administration of its affairs, and it is exceedingly to 
be regretted that many well-meaning persons were seduced into 
the measure. The scheme, however, totally failed, and Kaman has 
been hanged upon the same gallows that he had erected for Mor- 
decai. The originators of this crusade against all that is valuable 
in society are looked upon by the respectable and virtuous por- 
tion of the community where they reside, (and Utica, it is be- 
lieved, is not behind other cities in respect to the virtue and re- 
spectability of its inhabitants) with a calm and deliberate expres- 
sion of scorn and contempt, 



138 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

R . Thai we highly approve of the course which the 

• !i his city has taken upon this exciting- subject; a course, 

idgment of this meeting, not less the dictate of a proper 

. than of sound patriotism and public virtue. 

id, That we proffer to the minority of the Common 

Council who opposed the adoption of the resolution to which we 

fore r. ferred, an expression of the thanks and the cordial 

approbation of this meeting^ 

That this meeting, unmoved by passion or prejudice, 

but infltH need only by a just regard for itself, and for what is 

the quiet and repose of the whole community, will not 

Bubmil to the indignity of an abolition assemblage being beld in 

a public building of the city, reared as this was, by the contribu- 

: its citizens, and designed to be used for salutary public 

. and not as a receptacle for deluded fanatics or reckless 

. liaries.* 

QCUmbent duty of every citizen to 
make use of all lawful and proper, measures to arrest the disgrace 
which would settle upon this city by the public assemblage of 
the Convention appointed to be held on the 21st instant ; and 
this meeting adjourns, it will adjourn to meet on that 
day at nine o'clock, A. M. at this placet 
< m the motion of !> W i ;. r, Esq. 

. cd, That tl of this meeting be signed by 

i rs, and published in the Oneida Whig, Utica Observer, 
: R . tnd Evangelical Magazine.} 

I was then adjourned by the President to the 21st 
• ' o'< lock, A M at the same place. 

Rudolph Snyder, President. 
r Devereux, Ephraim Hart, Ezra j 
S. B mum, Kellogg Hurlburt, Adam i Vice Presidents. 
B rman, Nich Smith, John 15. Tease, S 

h Tiffany, W. C. Noyes, v Secretaries. 



• violence which is here threatened, it has been seen, was 
fully execute 

ly seen what «* lawful anfV proper measures ,, 
yed. 

tie and Baptist Register would Wil- 
forego the honour: they condemn these proceedings. 

' ' is the City Attorney, and was- elevated 

to that station bj those very nun whose characters he has thus 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 139 

No. IV. 



GREAT CONSERVATIVE MEETING, 

Of "the citizens of Utica, not abolitionists, but nevertheless 
in favour of maintaining the supremacy of the laws at all times, 
and under all circumstances, and who are opposed to any abridg- 
ment of the right of free and temperate discussion, guarantied by 
the constitution," held at the court-room of the academy, Tues- 
day evening, Oct. 20, 1835, pursuant to a solemn and deliberate 
resolve of a committee of thirty citizens. 

The meeting was organized by appointing Bradford Seymour, 
Chairman, H. Nash, E. M. Gilbert, and Dr. J. P. Batchclder, 
assistant Chairmen ; John Bradish, Esq. James Sayre, and James 
McGregor, Secretaries. 

On motion of Mr. H. Bushnell, the following persons were ap- 
pointed a committee to draft resolutions, and present to the meet- 
ing ; Dolphus Bennet, Horace M. Hawcs, Esq., T. B. Dixon, Dr. 
Rathbun, and Andrew Hanna. 

The committee retired, and after a short recess (during which 
the agitators of tumult, who had come to the meeting, produced 
some disorder and confusion) returned, and reported by H. M. 
Hawes, Esq. their chairman, the following preamble and resolu- 
tions. 

Preamble ; — Whereas, freedom of speech and of the press, and 
of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, are guarantied by 
the constitution, and cannot in any wise be abridged without 
striking a death blow to our liberties, therefore, 

Resolved, that we will maintain the supremacy of the laws 
by all legal and proper means ; resisting every attempt to invade 
said right, and will on all occasions, and by all just means, pro- 
tect every member of the American republic, in the free, tempe- 
rate, and undisturbed use of the same, (hissing and clamour, by 
the agitators, "hustle him out.") 

Resolved, that for the protection of the constitutional rights of our 

wantonly traduced. It is by the favour and indulgence of that 
body which he is here villi fying, that he has a voice and partici- 
pation in their counsels. The act of meanness which he is guilty 
of has few parallels. 



1 1(1 Tin: ENEMIES OF THE 

Of the union of these states, we 
... . ind our sacred honour:'' 

red, thai toe make the like pledge for the protection of the 

whether his condi- 
tio,, be high Lh< r he inhabit an humble cottage or sit 
iir of state. 

[ved, that the Id ,hic?i the people themselves 

in their authority, and ought to be held 
an d uiviol <rican citizen, and that as wc 

the prevalence of this sentiment ; the only solid basis upon 
our free institutions, our property, our lives, or our liber- 
i rest wi'h safety, we shall look upon any attempt to pro- 

ry one with an indignant frown. 

rep Tt of the committee pted, and a motion made 

rried, that t' as be considered separately. Amo- 

loption of the first resolution, which 

rried by ;i large majority, (although an attempt was made 

by the ' I clamour which should prevent the 

. put I. 

erefore made for the adoption of the nextreso- 

lution. It v b$ A. G. Dauby, in a manner that plain- 

; . (1 should follow, and as soon as he 

■ I i large number of boys and men of loose cha- 

• > the meeting for the purpose, and who 

. lling, which 

. mechanics 

sntal in calling the 

i rvative measures'), 

'• I to the pride of their fellows for the preservation 

um,bu1 they wire immediately clamoured down 

" and through tin \ G. Dauby, R. B. 

Miller, of the"" agitators,'' 

icted, and a mdtio 
I carried for adjournment, amid the 
Individuals who; fa ed the resolu- 

tions, were threatened with violence, bul were protected from in- 
jur) In their friends. \- Bomevih calumniators have represented, 
thai this meeting* to favour ;!i<- schemes of the aboli- 

u to declare upon their 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 141 

veracity, as men of truth and honour, that the assertions from what 
source soever it may have eminated, is a base falsehood.* 

BRADFORD SEYMOUR, Chairman. 



Henry Nash, 

J. P. Batchelder, 

Assistant Chairmen. 

John Bradish, \ 

James Sayre, > Secretaries. 

James M'Gregor, ) 

No. V. 



AbolitignConyention— Meeting of the Citizens — Adjocrn- 
ment of the convention, sine die. 

At an adjourned meeting of the citizens of Utica, held on the 
2lst October, 1835, at 9 o'clock, A. M., pursuant to a resolution of 
the meetiug held on the 17th inst., Rudolph Snyder, Esq. was ap- 
pointed President, and John C Devereux, Ephraim Hart, Ezra 
S. Barndm, Kellogg Hurlburt, Adam Bowman, Nicholas 
Smith, and John B. Pease, Vice Presidents ; and on motion of 
D. Wager, Esq.; Isaiah Tiffany and William C. Noyes, were 
chosen Secretaries. 

On motion of J. Watson Williams, Esq., 

Resolved. That a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to 
report resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting, where- 
upon the Chair appointed Messrs. J. Watson Williams, Chester 
Hayden, George J. Hopper, Rutger B. Miller, and Harvey Barnard 
such committee. — 

That committee, after a short recess, by its chairman, J. Watson 
Williams, reported the following preamble and resolutions, which, 
on motion, were unanimously adopted: — 

The citizens of Utica having, on the evening of the 17th instant, 
expressed their decided disapprobation of the vote of the Common 
Council of the city granting the use of the Court-rooms to the 

* The pretence that this meeting was designed to favour the 
abolitionists, it is believed, came only from a few individuals, who 
have no just claims to characters, for truth or honesty. This was 
probably the largest meeting ever assembled in Utica, on any oc- 
casion. Of its character and designs the public will judge from 
the report of its proceedings. The sentiments contained in the 
resolutions reported, cannot fail to meet the cordial approbation 
of every lover of his country. 

13 



I 12 THE ENEMIES OP THE 

- c filed to assemble here this day; 

urning to this time, toprevtnt an as- 

i araeter in a building erected by the volun- 

t . itribution of the said citiz r an ! different purposes; 

,. pursuant to that adjournment, deem it a 

I i to ] heretofore irequcntly ex- 

to the deluded and fanatical efforts of the 

B 

i the eyes, not only of the people of this 

re iixed upon cur proceedings. We 

• to prevent, if possible, 

I r and lawful means, the disgrace which will sully cur name? 

nd most directly to the disturbance of the 

public | cace, and no less directly to the disruption of the now happy 

i > rmitted to make our city the scene of 

i : noxious deliberations. Our determination and 

: their convening here ; and we now solemnly 

i lie against their attempting to assemble 

'To add force to that remonstrance, wc 

sed as we are, as go< d and peaceful citizens, to 

urb the public peace, and deter- 

e are to take no part in measures of personal violence 

.tatiop.s rcsjonsiWc 

.1 detcrmina- 

bich it is their 

! them 

tate of feeling 

| unlawful 

with the 

Id them 

I 

; o i and madness 

unchris- 

t upon '.hem as 

lion that an adhe- 
to holdaCi nvention in defiance 
ir fe! low- 
us acts, and 
1 repute, 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 143 

Therefore, Resolved, That a committee ot twenty-five of our fel- 
low-citizens be appointed by the chairman of this meeting, whose 

duty it shall be to ascertain the proposed time and place of the 
meeting of the said Convention of abolitionists, and express to the 
delegates of the said Convention who may he present in this city the 
opinions entertained here and throughoiight the state and union, of 
the impropriety and rashness of attempting to assemble for the pur- 
poses expressed in the call for said Convention; and that the said 
committee be instructed to urge upon the said delegates the evil con- 
sequences which are likely to ensue if they persist in their unwise 
attempt ; to represent to them the excited state of public feeling 
here, and the utter abhorrence in which the doctrines and measures 
of the abolitionists are held ; to warn them to abandon their perni- 
cious movements, and to regard, as becomes all citizens studious of 
the public quiet and welfare, the frequent remonstrances of the 
great body of the peoplo of this state, and of the union, against 
their obnoxious designs * 

Resolved, That they also be instructed to inform the said dele- 
gates of the number and character of the persons composing this 
meeting ; that it is no riotous assemblage convened for the purpose of 
encouraging or abetting tumult and disorder ; but a meeting of good 
and reputable citizens of Uiica, of all classes and parties, assembled 
to prevent if they can do so by their advice and remonstrances, a re" 
sort to violence and insult, by urging, before it is too late, upon the 
delegates to said Convention, to forsake their determination of as- 
sembling among us at a time when the public feeling is so violently 
excited against their rash measures.! 



* " For I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility 
against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. 1 ' — Jefferson. 

t What a ridiculous appearance this " committee" must have 
made, hunting about the streets after the delegates ot this Conven- 
tion, in order to tell them " of the number and character of the per- 
sons composing this meeting," and how well it comported with the 
dignity of a judge and a representative ! They needed no formal 
resolution in order to remind the Convention of the number and 
character of their constituents, for of both their number and cha- 
racter the said delegates were well informed, upon the first entrance 
of this ; - committee of twenty-five" into the church, by the horrid 
yells and obscene behaviour of the horde of drunken and wretched 
beings with whom they were surrounded, and who had followed 
their leaders, alias "committee," in order to cheer and stimulate 
them by their blasphemies, in their direful purpose ; and produce a,, 
stronger " pressure of public opinion." A formal resolution that thi* 



! 1 i THE ENEMIES OF THE 

The President then appointed as the committee mentioned in the 

lotion, Messrs. Chester Hay den, Rutger B.Miller, Samuel 

I Ezra Dean, William Tracy, J. Watson William?, E. A- 

re, A. G. Dauby, < >. B .Matteson, G. W. Hubhard, J. D. 

Lfland, Benj. Ballou, Augustus Hickcox, A. B. Williams, Julius 

/ ~ mi r. Harvey Barnard, T. M. Francis, B. F. Cooper, Isaiah 

Till'any, I hi\u\ Wager, T S. Gold, Ahin Blakesley, Burton Haw- 

1- .' ase .\« w< II. J. II. Dwight. 

On motion of E. A. Wctmore, Esq., 

Ived, That the Hon. Jo.sej)h Kirkland, Mayor of the city, be 
ited to act as chairman of the said committee. 
The meeting then took a short recess for the purpose of enabling 
the said committee to discharge the duties incumbent upon them, 
and in a short time was again organized for the purpose of receiving 
their report, which was made by Hon. C. Hayden, their chairman, as 
follows : — 

REPORT. 

.1/r. r'retident — The committee appointed pursuant to the reso- 
lution of this meeting to wait on the delegates of the Convention of 
the abolitionists, appointed to be held in this city on this day, and 
communicate to them the sentiments of this meeting, respectfully 
report, 

That his Honor the Mayor, named as chairman of your commit- 
tee, being mad.' acquainted with his appointment, declined from con- 
siderations connected with his official character to act as such ; at 



riotous assemble"— that these were " good and reputable 
cUbenaof in. a." wouldbe quite as satisfactory to the H saul de- 
ls the assurance of the " committee," that they had come 

there with just intentions, when one of their number, while attempt- 
in • io rob the secretary of the papers belonging to the Convention, 
threatened to knock him down, it he did not give them up. This 
whole farce is too ridiculous to he treated with seriousness. Nobody 
can U- deceived by it, who desires to know the truth. The candid 
nadir will examine the conduct and doings of these men, and will 
DO mora relj upon their declarations of innocence, than he would 
"i"" ll "' declarations of an accused person, made for the purpose 
oi exculpating himself from -nilt. Let him act upon this principle, 
which has long been judicially settle,! to he the only true one i^ 
od he will have as little difficulty in determining what 

1 L'lult is to he attached to the prime movers of this "com- 

B will, in ascertaining the " number and character" of 
their constituents. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 145 

the same time expressing his npprobation of the spirit and temper of 
the resolutions of this meeting, proposed to be communicated.* 

That thereupon your committee proceeded to ihe Bleecker-strect 
Presbyterian Church, where the members of the Convention were 
already assembled, and finding the doors open, entered and proceed- 
ed to read the resolutions and to make the communication with 
which they were charged, — whereupon, after some little delay, the 
Convention yielded to the pressure of public opinion and adjourned 
without day.t 

That when your committee entered the church, the secretary of 
the Convention, or some person for him, was reading some paper, 
upon which, however, no question was afterward taken. 

Which report, on motion, was unanimously adopted, and was re- 
ceived with loud and repeated acclamations. 

On motion of B. F. Cooper, Esq., 

Resolved, That when this meeting adjourns, they will carry out 
the triumph of public opinion this day achieved, by refraining en- 
tirely from all violence, and discouraging it to the best of their abili- 
ties on the part of all others of our fellow-citizens. 

On motion of D. Wager, Esq., 

Resolved, That the officers of this meeting be authorized to call a 
meeting of the citizens of Utiea, if they shall deem it necessary, to 



* The Mayor had been repeatedly called upon by the friends of 
the Constitution to take measures to prevent violence toward the 
Convention, and to preserve the peace of the city, which he was re- 
quired to do by the duties of his office, and by the solemn oath he 
had taken ; but he did nothing, nor were the police officers found at 
their posts at the time of the tumult. From the beginning of those 
inflammatory and revolutionary proceedings, which produced these 
disorders, the Mayor (Gen. Kirkland) was found among the " agi- 
tators;" and even on the day that was to consummate the city's dis- 
grace, he was still giving them his countenance. And, as appears 
from the above report, he was foolish enough to suppose that his de- 
clining to act openly in violation of the laws, and of the duties of 
his office, would save him from censure, while his secret efforts were 
employed to subserve the infamous designs of this " committee." 
The insulted community where he resides, demands of this man an 
" apology" for his conduct. 

t If the " committee" mean, by yielding " to the pressure of pub- 
lic opinion" that the Convention yielded to the " pressure" of a sa- 
vage and furious mob, and of the violence with which they were 
threatened, and with which some were actually assailed, then they 
are correct, otherwise their statement as to the means employed to 
break up the Convention is at least erroneous. 

13 * 



I Hi THE ENEMIES OF THE 

tn assemblage of the abolition Convention, or any other 
it i- in of a similar character within the city.* 
( »ii motion of J. M Hatch, Esq., 

Resolved, That the thanks of tins meeting be returned to the 
committee of twenty-five citizens, for the able, effectual, and proper 
manner in which they have performed the duties assigned them. 

On motkffl, resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting- be pub- 
fished in the Utica I Observer, Oneida Whig, Baptist Register, and 
J IvsngehcaJ Magazine. 

Thfl meeting was then adjourned. 

RUDOLPH SNYDER, President, 
John C. Devereux, 
Ephrraim Hart, 
Ezra S. Barm m. 
Kellogg Huri.burt, 
Adam Bowman, 

JN I- HOLAS S.MITH, i 

John B. Pease, J 



1 s \ I A 



aii Tiffany, ) c t • 

> \ Secretaries. 



No. VI. 

TONE of the south. 
[From the Louisiana Journal.} 
" The following has been handed to us by the Committee of 
" Vigilance of the parish of East Feliciana for publication. 
u Fifty Thousand Dollars Rcn-ard. 
"The above reward will be given on the delivery to the Com- 
" mittee of \ igilance for the parish of East Feliciana, La. of the 
" notorious Abolitionist, Arthur Tappan, of New-York. 

pera opposed to Abolition throughout the United 
u Mates are requested to give publicity to the above." 

The above notice has gained general publicity through the me- 
dium of the public journals, both at the north and the south. A 
ward is here offered for the abduction of one of our most 
■■teamed fellow-citizens. Should he tall into the hands of south- 
it. ^..r-.*' he would, beyond doubt, be put to death, for no 
other Clime than that which gave birth to American freedom. 

ore daring spirit of opposition to the undisputed rights of 

individuals, than i- manifested in this resolution, is rarely witnesscvl 
. : sock '\ 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 147 

Let the friends of their country be awake. There are ruffians 
enow who would execute the infamous deed, for a less reward 
than is here offered. 

" The ccnvards who would suffer a fellow-citizen to be torn 
from their society in order to be thus offered a sacrifice to laioless 
tyranny, would merit that everlasting infamy ichich awaits those 
who are seeking the perpetration of that act.* 

The Georgia Journal gives an official account of a meeting of 
the citizens of Morgan,- Walton, and Clark counties, on the subject 
of the proceedings of the abolitionists. Among the resolutions 
adopted one holds the following language : — 

*' We detest your incendiaries ; and, believe us-, we will wreak 
" the direst vengeance on their heads if ever they come within our 
" jurisdiction ; and in the most solemn terms we declare to the 
** world, in whosoever's hands we may find any of these incen- 
" diary tracts, with an intent, in any manner, to scatter those fire- 
" brands among us, without judge or jury the gallows will 
" be his or their doom. Then, in the most solemn language, 
" we warn ye, fanatics of every order, come not to the south ; — 
" danger is abroad in the land 1" 

MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF N. CAROLINA. 

Governor Swain, of North Carolina, in his message, dated 
Nov. 16, 1835, holds the following language, in relation to the 
anti-slavery publications : — 

" It is apparent to all who have any accurate knowledge of our 
" condition, that the public safety imperiously requires the sup- 
pression of these wicked and mischievous publications, injuri- 
** ous alike to the best interests of the master and the slave. 
" This, I apprehend, cannot be effected without the co-operation 
" of the legislatures of the states from which these missiles pro- 
" 'ceed. Such an interference with our domestic concerns, on the 
" part of the citizens of a foreign state, either encouraged or per- 
" mitted by the government, icoutd at once justify a resort to the 
" modes ordinarily adopted for the adjustment of national differ- 
" ences. If we should exercise greater forbearance in the present 
44 instance, it is not because the wrongs we suffer are less injuri- 
" ous or mortifying when inflicted by the hands of brethren. The 

* See Jefferson's draft of an Address to the King, 1774.. 



I 18 THE ENEMES OF THE 

•• obvious design and tendency of these proceedings is to subvert 

" ill.- constitution and laws of the country ; and wc have therefore 

" an indubitable right to ask of our .sister states the adoption of such 

U i become necessary and requisite to suppress 

II them totally and promptly" And the governor concludes by 

ig, that, upon this point, there "will be but one opinion 
ai!n -ijlt the slave-holding .states ; that ali will join in demanding 

sacrifice which will remove oar only remaining security 
against the most insufferable tyranny. Let this demand be com- 
plied with, and there will then be much truth in the declaration 
of <>ur enemies, that our Declaration of Independence is nothing 
but .i " »nat rhetorical flourish." But what course will be most 
wise and prudent in the present emergency, while we are threat- 
ened with nullification on the one hand and the most odious des- 
potism on the other, is a solemn and momentous question. The 

prudence, a spirit of forbearance and conciliation will be 
required. We will voluntarily sacrifice our property and our lives 
to promote the welfare of our southern brethren; but if they make 
the demand w Inch Governor Swain* says they will make with per- 
fect unanimity, the duties which we owe to our countrv, to pos- 
terity, and to the cause of freedom throughout the world, forbid 
compliance. We cannot, will not submit. 

Bill in order thai we may have a full knowledge of our rights 
and duties in the present emergency, the following extracts are 
given from the National and Stat,' Constitutions: — 

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

■ -s shall make no law respecting an establish- 
"menl of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or 
" abridging the freedom oj of the press ; or the right of 

" the peoplt peaceably to assemble and petition the government for 

• A." 

Art. 1. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons* 

■ ml effects, against unreasonable searches and 

" seizures, BhalJ not be violated ; and no warrants shall issue but 

" u i'"" ted by oath or affirmation, and par- 

of George M'Duffie, Governor of South Caro- 
lina, ]■ 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 149 

" ticularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or 
" things to be seized." 

Art. 5. " No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or 
" otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indict- 
" mcnl of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or na- 
" val forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war 
" or public danger : nor shall any person be subject, for the same 
" offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall he 
" be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against him- 
" self, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 
tl process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public 
" uses, without just compensation." 

Art. 6. " In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the 
"right to a speedy public trial BY AN IMPARTIAL JURY 
"of the state, and district wherein the crime shall have been com- 
mitted, which district shall have been previously ascertained by 
"law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; 
" to he confronted with the icitnesscs against him; to have com- 
"putsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour ; and to 
" have the assistance of counsel in defence. 

" This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 
"be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties, or which shall be 
" made under the authority of the United States, shall be thk su- 
"freme law of the land; and the judges, in every state, shall be 
"bound thereby, any thing in the -constitution or laws of any state 
" to the contrary notwithstanding." Const. U. S. Art. G. § 2. 

From the Constitution of New- York. 
" Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his senti- 
"ments on all subjects; being responsible for the abuse of that 
"right; and no law shall ee passed to restrain or abridge 
" the liberty of speech or of the press." Art. 7. § 8. 
From the Constitution of Maine. 
" Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his senti- 
c: ments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty. 
e: No laws shall be passed regulating or restraining the freedom of 
«'the press. "Art. 1. § 4. 

From the Constitution of Massachusetts. 
" Liberty of the press is essential to security of freedom in a state: 
" it ought not therefore to be restrained in this cojamonwealth." 
Part 1. f 16. 



EMIES OF 'HIE 

Tampshire. 
■ the security of freedom 
e io be inviolablv preserved." Fart 

>nt. 
i a ri_ r !it to a freedom of speech, and of 
- concerning the 1 1 
'' ti oa • at, and therefore the freedom of the press ought 

1. art. 13. 
From the Constitution of Connect ievt. 

peak, write, and publish his 
"sentiments on all . ' ' ' ing responsible for the abuse of that 
"lib. .• 

.11 ever he passed to curtail the liberty of speech, 
Art. 1. 
From the Con ■Pennsylvania. 

to < very person who un- 

. i : . • I. rislature, or any 

"branch vernment; and no law shall ever be made to re- 

The free communication of thoughts and 

invaluable rights of man ; and every citizen 

I eak, write, and print ox any ^cject, being rcspon- 

that liberty." Art. 0. § 7. 

duo, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illi- 
i ana, contain declarations and provisions, 

words with the preceding; and the freedom of 
ui all of the remaining states, except New- 
.'■ lured to the citizens by express pros- 

titutions. 

George M'Dufi n:. 

The following are extracts from the message of George- M. 4 

Duffie, to the legislature of South Carolina at their session com- 

mencing November] 1835. After entering into a consideration 

of the measures and sentiments of the abolitionists, he says: — 

us deliberate opinion, thai the Laws of everj community! 

"should punish this species of interference by dbatb without 

No humane institution, in my 

■ 11<- makes no difTerence between colonizationists and aholi- 
• louneef the same sentence against both, as will be 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 151 

" opinion, is more manifestly consistent with the will of God, 
'• than domestic slavery. If we look into the elements of which 
" all political communities are composed, it will be found that ser- 

u vitude in some form, is one of the essential constituents, In 

"the very nature of things, there must be classes of persons to 
"discharge all the different offices of society, from the highest to 
"the lowest, .... Where these offices are performed by members 
" of the political community, a dangerous element is obviously in- 
"troduced into the bod)' politic. Hence, the alarming tendency 
" to violate the rights of property by agrarian legislation, which 
" is beginning to be manifest in the older states, where universal 
" suffrage -prevails without domestic slavery ; a tendency that will 
"increase in the progress of society, with the increasing inequality 
" of wealth. No government is worthy the name, that does not prc- 
" tcct the right of property, and no enlightened people will long submit 

" to such a mockery, In a word, the institution of domestic 

" slavery, supersedes the necessity of an order of nobility, and all 

" the other appendages of a hereditary system of government 

" Domestic slavery, therefore, instead of being an evil, is the corner 
" stone of our republican edifice. No patriot, who justly estimates 
" our privileges, will tolerate the idea of emancipation at any period 
" however remote, or on any condition of pecuniary advantage, hoio- 
" ever favourable. I would as soon think of opening a negotiation 
"for selling the liberties of the state at once, as] for making any 

" stipulation for the ultimate emancipation of our slaves 

" If the legislature should concur in these views of this important 
"element of our political and social system, our confederates 
" should be distinctly informed, in any communications we may 
"have occasion to make to them, that in claiming to be exempt from 
" all foreign interference, we can recognise no distinction between 

" ultimate and immediate emancipation It behoves us there- 

*' fore, to demand of all the non-slaveholding states. 1 . A formal , 
" and solemn disclaimer by its legislature, of the existence of any 
" rightful power, either in such state, or the United States in con- 
« gress assembled, to interfere in any manner with the institution 
"of domestic slavery in South Carolina. 2. The immediate pas- 
« sage of penal laws by such legislatures, denouncing against the 
" incendiaries of whom we complain, such punishments as will 
<< speedily and for ever suppress their machinations against our 



152 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

■ and safety The liberal, enlightened, and magnani- 

«• motu conduct of the people in many portions of the non-slave- 
" holding states, forbids us to anticipate a refusal on the part of 
6«, to fulfil' ihosi high obligations of national faith and 
"duty." 

These are the real sentiments of George M'Duffie, of South 
Carolina, as he declares with Bolemn asseverations of sincerity. 
They are briefly stated in his own language, omitting for the want 
of room, bifl multifarious illustrations which can neither advan- 
tage their author, nor allay the indignation which they cannot fail 
to arouse in every virtuous breast. If it were not decreed by 
heaven, that nothing before the last trump should disturb the 
(piiet of the <lead, such startling doctrines, prononuced by the chief 
magistrate of one of the states of this republic, would be suffi- 
cient to call forth the shade of jf.fff.kson from its long repose. 
; Thai consistent advocate of freedom had prepared a proposi- 
tion to be presented to the legislature of Virginia, in 1785, for the 
emancipation of all slaves born after the passage of the act. Upon 
learning, while in France, that this proposition had not been 
taken up by the legislature, and that no provision had been made 
for the general emancipation of the slaves, he expresses his feel- 
ings in the following vehement language: — 

"What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is 
" man ! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, and imprisonment, 
" and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and the next 
"moment be deaf to all those motives whose powers supported 
u him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow-men a bondage, 
" one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that 
" which he rose in rebellion to oppose ! 15ut we must await with 
" patience the workings of an overruling Pkh idence, and hope that 
" he is preparing the deliverance of these our suffering brethren. 
" When the measure of their team shall be full — when their 
u groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless 
utiee will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing 
M light and liberality among their oppressors, or, at length, by his 
" exterminating thunder, manifest his attention to the things of 

" this world, and that the\ are not left to the guidance ofa blind 

« fatalit] " 

The follow i ph was written by Mr. Jefferson in 1821, 

in allusion to the above mentioned proposition. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 153 

" It was found," says he, " that the public mind would not yet 
" bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet 
" the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will 

** follow; NOTHING is MORE CERTAINLY WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF 
" FATE, THAN THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE TO BE FREE. Nor is it leSS 

" certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same 
11 government. Nature, habit, opinion, have drawn indelible lines 
" of distinction between them. It is still in our power to direct 
" the process of emancipation and deportation peaceably, and in 
" such slow degree, as the evil will wear off insensibly, and their 
" place be, pari passu, filled up with free white labourers. If, on 
" the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shud- 
" der at the prospect held up. We should in vain look for an ex- 
" ample in the Spanish deportation, or deletion of the Moors. — ■ 
u This precedent would fall far short of our case." 

It was long ago predicted by European writers of the first dis- 
tinction, that the southern states are " destined to become the scene 

of NEGRO DOMINION, and A THORN IN THE SIDE OF THE GIANT RE- 
PUBLIC." And yet we are told, that the free citizens of the north, 
who shall attempt to avert so appalling a calamity by the exercise 
of a timely commiseration " for these our suffering brethren," 
and by " diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors," 
and entreating them, by their regard for the laws of the God that 
made them, and their love for the country that gave them birth, 
to provide for the ultimate, but certain abolition of this unjust 
system, ought to be punished by death. 

BLOCKING UP THE UNITED STATES MAIL. 

The Governor of Georgia, in his message to the legislature of 
that state, at the session commencing in November, 1835, recom- 
mends such an alteration of the existing laws as will " more effec- 
" tually prevent the circulation, through the post-office or other- 
" wise, of any publication tending to interrupt their social rela- 
" tions, or calling in question their constitutional right of pro- 
" perty." The design is to exclude all anti-slavery publications 
from the state, whether they advocate immediate or gradual eman- 
cipation, in defiance of the laws of the United States. 



14 



154 THE ENEMIES OF THfi 



No. VII. 



THE TRUE miNCIPLES AND SENTIMENTS OF THE ABOLITIONISTS, 

To the Public. 

In behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, we solicit the 
candid attention of the public to the following declaration of our 
principles and objects. Were the charges which are brought 
against us made only by individuals who are interested in the con- 
tinuance of slavery, and such as are influenced solely by unworthy 
motives, this address would be unnecessary : but there are those 
who merit and possess our esteem, who would not voluntarily do 
us injustice, and who have been led by gross misrepresentations 
to believe that we are pursuing measures at variance not only with 
the constitutional rights of the south, but with the precepts of hu- 
manity and religion. To such we offer the following explana- 
tions and assurances. 

1st. Wo hold that Congress has no more right to abolish slave- 
ry in the southern states, than in the French West India islands. 
Of course, we desire no national legislation on the subject. 

2d. We hold that slavery can only be lawfully abolished by the 
legislatures of the several states in which it prevails, and that the 
exercise of any other than moral influence to induce such aboli- 
tion is unconstitutional. 

8d. We believe that Congress has the same right to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia that the state governments 
have within their respective jurisdictions, and that it is their duty 
to efface so foul a blol from the national escutcheon. 

4th. We believe thai American citizens have the right to express 
and publish their opinions of the constitution, laws, and institu- 
• any and every state and nation under heaven; and we 
mean never to surrender the liberty of speech, of the press, or of 
■ •<■, blessings we have inherited from our fathers, and 
which we intend, as far as we arc able, to transmit unimpaired 
to cur children. 

full. \\ e have uniformly deprecated all forcible attempts on the 
part of the slaves to recover their liberty. And were it in our 
power to address them, we would exhort them to observe aquiet 
an.! peaceful demeanour; and would assure them, that no insur- 
rcctionar\ movement, on their part, would receive from us the 
si nd or countenance 






CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



15& 



6th. We would deplore any servile insurrection, both on ac- 
count of the calamities which would attend it, and on account of 
the occasion whic h it might furnish of increased severity and op- 
pression. 

7th. We are charged with sending incendiary publications to the 
south. If by the term incendiary is meant publications contain- 
ing arguments and facts to prove slavery to be a moral and political 
evil, and that duty and policy require its immediate abolition, the 
charge is true. But if this term is used to imply publications en- 
couraging insurrection, and designed to excite the slaves to break 
their fetters, the charge is utterly and unequivocally false. We 
beg our fellow-citizens to notice, that this charge is made without 
proof, and by many who confess that they have never read out 
publications ; and that those who make it offer to the public no 
evidence from our writings in support of it. 

8th. We are accused of sending our publications to the slaves ;. 
and it is asserted, that their tendency is to excite insurrection. 
Both the charges are false. These publications are not intended 
for the slaves ; and were they able to read them, they would find. 
in them no encouragement to insurrection. 

9lh. We are accused of employing agents in the slave states, 
to distribute our publications. We have never had one such 
agent. — We have sent no packages of our papers to any person 
in those states for distribution, except to five respectable resident 
citizens at their own request. But we have sent by mail, single 
papers addressed to public officers, editors of newspapers, clergy- 
men, and others. If, therefore, our object is to excite the slaves to 
insurrection, the masters are our agents ! 

10th. We believe slavery to be sinful, to be injurious to this 
and every other country in which it prevails ; we believe imme- 
diate emancipation to be the duty of every slave-holder, and that 
the immediate abolition of slavery by those who have the right to 
abolish it, would be safe and wise. These opinions we have 
freely expressed, and we certainly have no intention to refrain 
from expressing them in future, and urging them upon the 
consciences, and hearts of our fellow-citizens who hold slaves, or 
apologize for slavery. 

11th, We believe that the education of the poor is required by 



15(3 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

re I lor tin 1 permanency of our republican insti- 

There are thousands, and tens of thousands of our fel- 

low-citizens, even in the free states, sunk- in abjeect poverty, and 

wli. i, em account of their ecomplexion, are virtually kept in ignorance, 

and whose instruction in certain cases is actually prohibited by 

law ! \\ e an- anxious te. protect the rights, and to promote the 

virtue and happiness of the coloured portion of our population; 

and on this account, we have been charged with a design to en- 

intennarriages between the whites and the blacks. This 

has been repeatedly, and is now again denied ; while 

bat the tendency of our sentiments is to put an end 

to the criminal amalgamation that prevails wherever slavery 

exists. 

12th. We are accused of acts that tend to a dissolution of the 
uniem, and even of wishing to dissolve it. We have never "cal- 
culated the value of the union," because we believe it to be ines- 
timable ; and that the abolition of slavery will remove the chief 
danger of its dissolution; and one of the many reasons why we 
cherish, ami will endeavour to preserve the constitution, is, that 
it restrains congress from making any law " abridging the free- 
dom of speech, or of the press." 

Such, fellow-citizens, are our principles — are they unworthy of 
republicans and of Christians ! Or are they in truth so atrocious, 
that in order to prevent their diffusion you are yourselves willing 
to surrender, at the dictation of others, the invaluable privilege 
of free discussion, the serj birthright of Americans] Will you, 
in order that the abominations of slavery may be concealed from 
public view, ami that the capital of your republic may continue 
m now is, under the Banctionof congress, the great slave 
mait of the American Continent, consent that the general govern- 
ment, in acknowledged defiance of the constitution and laws, shall 
appoint throughout the length and breadth of your land, ten thou- 
sand cense. rs of the pn\ss, each of whom shall have the right to 
hupect e\.-rv document you may commit to the Post-office, and 
to snpprc-s BVtry pamphlet and newspaper, whether religious or 
political, which in his Sovereign pleasure he may adjudge to con- 
tain aii lnceneliarv article ! Surely we need naU remind you, that 
it vhi submit te. such an encroachment ( >n ve.ur liberties, the days 
of our republic are numbered, and that although the abolitionists 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 157 

raay be the first, they will not be the last victoms offered at the 
shrine of arbitrary power. 

AUTHUR TAPPAN, President. 
JOHN RANKIN, Treasurer. 
WILLIAM JAY, Sec. For. Cor. 
ELIZUR WRIGHT, Jr. Sec. Dom. Cor. 
ABRAHAM L. COX, M. D., Rec. Sec. 
LEWIS TAPPAN, n 

JOSHUA LEAVITT, Members of 

SAMUEL E. CORNISH, V the 

SIMEON S. JOOELVN, Executive Com. 

THEODORE S. WRIGHT, ; 
New- York, September 3, 1835. 

No. VIII. 

SPEECH OF GERRIT SMITH, ESQ., 

AT THE MEETING OF THE NEW-YORK ANTI-SLAVERY 

SOCIETY, HELD IN PETERBORo', OCT. 22, 1835. 

Mr. Smith rose to move and advocate the adop- 
tion of the following Resolution, viz : — 

" Resolved, That the right of free discussion, givei* 
to us by God, and asserted and guarded by the laws 
of our country, is a right so vital to man's freedom^ 
and dignity, and usefulness, that we can never be 
guilty of its surrender, without consenting to ex- 
change that freedom for slavery, and that dignity 
and usefulness for debasement and worthlessness." 

Mr. Smith remarked, that he was not a member 
of the American A nti- Slavery Society, and not yet 
prepared to become such — that his reasons for not 
approving of all the plans and proceedings of the 
society, so far as to unite himself with it, were be- 
fore the public ; and that it would be both unseason- 
able and egotistical for him now to mention them,*, 
H* 



158 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

lie stood up in the meeting under the courtesy of 
its resolution, inviting him to take a part in its de- 
liberations and proceedings. Let me say, however, 
(said Mr. Smith,) that the great principles of your 
society have ever been my principles ; and that it 
is meet I should share with you in the odium and 
peril of holding those principles. At such a time 
as this, when you are nobly jeoparding, for truth's 
sake, and humanity's sake, property, and reputation, 
and life, I feel it to be not only my duly, but rny 
privilege and pleasure, to identify myself with you, 
as far as I conscientiously can, and to expose my 
property, and reputation, and life, to the same dan- 
gers which threaten yours. Passing events, (said 
Mr. S.) admonish me of the necessity there is, that 
the friends of human rights should act in concert : 
and, with all my objections to your society, it is not 
only possible, but probable, that I shall soon find 
myself obliged to become a member of it. 

But to come to the resolution before us, (which 
Mr. S. said he had himself drawn up, and handed to 
tin' committee on resolutions) — I love the free and 
happy form of civil government under which I live : 
not because it confers new rights on me. My rights 
all spring from an infinitely nobler source — from the 
favour and grace of God. Our political and consti- 
tutional rights, so called, are but the natural and in- 
herent rights of man, asserted, carried out, and se- 
cured by modes of human contrivance. To no hu- 
man charier am I indebted lor my rights. They 
pertain i<> my original constitution ; and I read them 
m that Book of books, which is the great charter of 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 159 

man's rights. No, the constitutions of my nation 
and state create none of my rights. They do, at the 
most, bat recognise what it was not theirs to give. 

My reason, therefore, for loving a republican form 
of government, and for preferring it to any other — 
to monarchical and despotic governments — is, not 
that it clothes me with rights, which these withhold 
from me ; but, that it makes fewer encroachments 
than they do, on the rights which God gave me — on 
the divinely appointed scope of man's agency. I 
prefer, in a word, the republican system, because it 
comes up more nearly to God's system. It is not 
then to the constitutions of my nation and state, that 
I am indebted for the right of fiee discussion ; 
though I am thankful for the glorious defence with 
which those instruments surround that right. No, 
God himself gave me this right : and a sufficient 
proof that He did so, is to be found in the fact, that 
He requires me to exercise it. Take from the men, 
w x ho compose the church of Christ on earth, the 
right of free discussion, and you disable them for 
His service. They are now the lame, and the dumb, 
and the blind. In vain is it now, that you bid them 
" hold forth the word of life" — in vain that you bid 
them " not to suffer sin upon a neighbour, but in 
any wise to rebuke him" — in vain is it, that you bid 
them " go into all the world, and preach the Gospel 
to every creature." If God made me to be one of 
his instruments for carrying forward the salvation of 
the world, then is the right of free discussion among 
my inherent rights : then may I, must I, speak of sin, 
any sin, every sin, that comes in my way — any sin, 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

every sin, which it is my duly to search out and to 
: - . When, therefore, this right is called in ques- 
tion, then is the invasion, not of something obtained 
from human convention and human concession, but 
the invasion of a birthright — of that which is as old 
as our being, ami a part of the original man. 

This right, so sacred, is sought to be trammelled. 
nrtually denied. What I have said is intro- 
ductory to the expression of my dissent from the 
tenor of the language with which this invasion is 
g< in -rally met. This right is, for the most part, de- 
fended on the ground, that it is given to us by our 
political constitutions ; and that it was purchased 
for us by the blood and toil of our fathers. Now, I 
wish to see its defence placed on its true and infi- 
nitely higher ground ; on the ground, that God gave 
it to us ; and that he who violates or betrays it, is 
guilty, not alone of dishonouring the laws of his 
country and the blood and toil and memory of his 
fathers; but, that he is guilty also of making war 
upon God's plan of man's constitution and endow- 
ments; and of attempting to narrow down and de- 
that dignity with which God invested him, 
when lie made him in his own image, and but " lit- 
than the angels." When, therefore, we 
would defend this right, let us not defend it so much 
with tlu- jealousy of an American — a Republican; 
as though it were but .m American or a Republican 
right, and could claim no higher origin than human 
will and human statutes : but let us defend it as 
i ling that to lose it, is to lose apart of our- 
selves : let us defend it as men, determined to main- 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 161 

tain, even to their extreme boundary, the rights and 
powers which God has given to us for our usefulness 
and enjoyment ; and the surrender of an iota of 
which is treason against heaven. 

There is one class of men, whom it especially 
behooves to be tenacious of the right of free discus- 
sion. I mean the poor. The rich and the honour- 
able, if divested of this right, have still their wealth 
and their honours to repose on, and to solace them. 
But, when the poor are stripped of this right, they 
are poor indeed. The unhappy men, who composed 
the mob in Utica yesterday, are of this class. May 
they yet learn, and before it is too late, how suicidal 
was the violence, to which the lips and pens of 
their superiors stimulated them : and, that in attack- 
ing this most precious right in your persons, they 
were most efficiently contributing to hasten its de- 
struction in their own : a right too in respect to 
which the poor man is the equal of the richest and 
the proudest; and his possession of which is all 
that saves him from being trampled upon in Repub- 
lican America by the despotism of wealth and titles, 
as that despotism tramples upon him elsewhere, 
where he is not permitted to tell the story of his 
wrongs, and to resist oppression by that power, 
which even wealth and titles cannot withstand — the 
power of the lips and the press. Let the poor man 
count as his enemy, and his worst enemy, every in- 
vader of the right of free discussion. 

We are threatened with legislative restraints on 
this right. Let us tell our legislators in advance, 
that this is a right, restraints on which we will not, 



162 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

cannot bear ; and that every attempt to restrain it is 
a palpable wrong on God and man. Submitting to 
these restraints, we could not be what God made us 
to be ; we could not perform the service to which 
lie has appointed us ; wc could not be men. Laws 
a man — to congeal the gushing fountains of 
his heart's sympathy — and to shrivel up his soul by 
extinguishing its ardour and generosity — are laws 
not to assist him in carrying out God's high and 
holy purposes in calling him into being ; but they 
are laws to throw him a passive,, mindless, worthless 
being at the feet of despotism. 

\'.A to what end is it that we are called on to- 
hold our tongues, and throw down our pens, and 
give up our influence ? Were it for a good object, 
and could we conceive that such a sacrifice would 
promote it, there would be a colour of fitness in ask- 
ing us to do so. But, this is a sacrifice which right- 
eousness and humanity never invoke. Truth and 
require the exertion — never the suppression 

n's noble rights and powers. We are called 
on to ■ and unman ourselves, and to withhold 

"ihcrs that influence which we are bound to 
n them, to the end that the victim of op- 

ion may lie more quietly beneath the foot of 
his oppressor; to the end, that one-sixth of our 
countrymen, plundered of their dearest rights — of 
their bodies, and minds, and souls — may never know 
of those rights ; to the end, that TWO -MILLIONS 
AND A HALF o\ our fellow-men, crushed in the 
nun folds of slavery, may remain in all their suffer- 
ing, and debasement, and- despair. It is for such an. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 163 

object — an object so wicked and inexpressibly mean 
■ — that we are called on to lie down beneath the 
slave-holders' blustering and menace, like whipped 
and trembling spaniels. We reply, that our repub- 
lican spirit cannot thus succumb ; and, what is in- 
finitely more, that God did not make us — that Jesus 
did not redeem us, for such sinful and vile uses. 

Wc knew before that slavery could not endure, 
could not survive free discussion ; that the minds of 
men could not remain firm, and their consciences 
quiet under the continued appeals of truth, and jus- 
tice, and mercy : but the demand which slave-hold- 
ers now make on us to surrender the right of free 
discussion, together with their avowed reasons for 
this demand, involves their own full concession, that 
free discussion is incompatible with slavery. The 
south now admits, by her own showing, that slavery 
cannot live, unless the north -be tongue-tied. But 
we have two objections to being thus tongue-tied. 
One is, that we desire and purpose to exert all our 
powers and influence — lawfully, temperately, kindly 
— to persuade the slave-holders of the south to de- 
liver our coloured brethren from their bonds : nor 
shall we give rest to our lips or pens, until this right- 
eous object is accomplished : and the other is, that 
we are not willing to be slaves ourselves. The 
enormous and insolent demands of the south, sus- 
tained, I am deeply ashamed to say, by craven and 
mercenary spirits at the north, manifest, beyond all 
dispute, that the question now is, not merely, nor 
mainly, whether the blacks at the south shall re- 
main slaves — but whether the whites at the north 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 

shall become slaves also. And thus, while we are 
endeavouring to break the yokes which are on 
others' necks, we are to see to it, that yokes are not 
imposed on our own. 

It is Baid that the south will not molest our free- 
it we will not disturb their slavery— if we will 
not insist on the liberty to speak and write about 
this abomination ! Our reply is, that God gave us 
the freedom lor which we contend — that it is not a 
freedom bestowed by man ; — not an ex gratia free- 
dom, which we have received at the hands of the 
south ; — not a freedom which stands, on the one 
hand, in the surrender of our dearest rights, and, on 
the other, in the conceded perpetuity of the body 
and mind, and soul-crushing system of American 
slavery. We ask not, we accept not, we scornfully 
rejeel the conditional and worthless freedom which 
the smith proffers us. 

li is not to be disguised, that a war has broken out 
between the north and the south. Political and com- 
mercial men are industriously striving to restore 
i ■; but the peace which they would effect is 
superficial, false, and temporary. True, permanent 
peace can never be restored, until slavery, the occa- 
sion of the war, has ceased. The sword, which is 
now drawn, will never be returned to its scabbard, 
until victory, entire, decisive victory is ours or 
I -; not. until that broad, and deep, and damning 
stam on our country's escutcheon is clean washed 
out that plague Bpol on our country's honour gone 
forever;— or, until slavery lias riveted anew her 
present chains, and brought our heads also to bow 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 165 

beneath her withering power. Tt is idle — it is crimi- 
nal to hope for the restoration of peace on any other 
condition. Why, not to speak of other outrages which 
the south has practised on the rights and persons of 
northern men — who can read the simple and honest 
account which Amos Dresser gives of his sufferings 
at the hands of slave-holders, and still flatter himself 
with ihe belief that the north can again shake hands 
with slavery ? If the church members and. church 
elders, who sat in mock judgment on that young 
man's case, could be impelled by the infernal spirit 
of slavery, to such lawless, ruffian violence ; how 
can any reasonable hope remain, that while the 
south remains under the malign influences of sla- 
very, its general demeanor toward the north can be 
even tolerable ? The head and front of Dresser's 
offending, was his connexion with an Anti-Slavery 
Society in a distant state : and for this he w r as sub- 
jected by professors, and titled professors too, of the 
meek and peaceful religion of Jesus, to corporal 
punishment — public, disgraceful, severe. 

Who shall be mustered on our side for this great 
battle ? Not the many. The many never come to 
such a side as ours, until attracted to it by palpable 
and unequivocal signs of its triumph. Nor do we 
need the many. A chosen few are all we need. 
Nor do we desire those who are skilful in the use 
of carnal weapons. For such weapons we have no 
use. Truth and love are inscribed on our banners, 
and " by these we conquer." There is no room in 
our ranks for the politician, who, to secure the votes 
of the south, would consent that American slavery 
15 



1(30 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

be perpetual. There is no room in them for the 
commercial man, who, to secure the trade of the 
south, is ready to applaud the institution of slavery, 
and to leave his countrymen — his brethren — their 
children, and children's children — subjected to its 
tender mercies, throughout all future time. We have 
no room, no work for such. We want men who 
stand on the rock of Christian principles ; men who 
will speak, and write, and act with invincible honesty 
and firmness ; men who will vindicate the right of 
discussion, knowing that it is derived from God ; 
and who, knowing this, will vindicate it against all 
the threats and arts of demagogues, and money wor- 
shippers, and in the face of mobs, and of death. 
There is room in our ranks for the old and decrepit, 
as well as the young and vigorous. The hands that 
are tremulous with years, are the best hands to grasp 
the sword of the spirit. The aged servants of God 
best know how " to move the arm which moves the 
world." Our work, in a word, is the work of God; 
and they arc the best suited to it who are most ac- 
customed to do his work. 

No. IX. 
SPEECH <)F AI,YAN STEWART, ESQ., 

DELIVERED Bl 8TATE .WTI-SI.A VERT CONVENTION AT THE 

-r i rn \, October 21, 1835. 
\'.\;iii Stewart, Esq. of Utica rose and said, that 
with ihe consenl of the Convention, he would tres- 
pass a few minutes on the time of this numerous and 
honourable body, and made, in substance, the fol- 
lowing speech : — 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 167 

Mr. S. said, this was the first Convention which 
had ever assembled in the United States under such 
a remarkable state of facts as those which seem to dis- 
tinguish this from all public bodies of men who have 
ever met in this land before. For the last foity days 
at least three hundred of the public presses have 
daily poured a continued shower of abuse upon the 
callers and the call for this Convention, characterized 
by a spirit of vengeance and violence, knowing and 
proposing nothing but the bitterness of invective^ 
and the cruelty of bloody persecution. He said our 
enemies have sent their slanders against us, whis^ 
pering across the diameter of the globe, telling the 
haughty and sneering minions of Absolutism, on 
the other side of the world, that the sons of the pil- 
grims had proved recreant to their lofty lineage, un- 
faithful to their high destiny, untrue to the last hopes 
of man. 

Said Mr. S. Is it true that the philanthropy which 
warms our hearts into action, for the suffering slave, 
can exile our patriotism, and prepare our souls for 
the most heaven-daring guilt ? Is it true, because 
we feel for bleeding humanity, that it makes us 
cruel ? Can pity produce it ? Can love beget hate 1 
Can an affectionate respect and kind feeling for all 
of the human beings whom Providence has cast in 
these twenty-four states, be evidence that we wish 
to cut the throats of two millions and a half of our 
white neighbours, friends, brethren and countrymen.? 
Does a generous regard for the injured slave imply 
hatred for the master ? If so, the converse of the 
proposition must be true, that to love the master 



[08 THE E.NtMILS OF THE 

implies hatred to the slave. Neither proposition is 
tint- ; yet the enemies of this Convention have acted 
toward us as though these propositions had the as- 
surance of certainty, as we have on a clear day at 
twelve o'clock at noon that the sun shines on the 
world. 

Said Mr. S., We have been proclaimed traitors 
to our own dear native land, because we love its in- 
habitants. Our humanity is treason, our philan- 
thropy is incendiarism, our pity for the convulsive 
yearnings of down-trodden man is fanaticism. Our 
treason is the treason of Franklin and Jay; our 
incendiarism is that of Clark sod and Wilberforce ; 
our fanaticism is the fanaticism of Earl Grey 
and Lord Brougham, and the majority of the wisest 
heads in proud Old England ; our sentiments are 
those expressed by William Wirt, Patrick Henry, 
and Thomas Jefferson. ■ 

Our creed is to be found in the two great wil- 
- of God's revealed will to man — the Old and 
New Testaments. The Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the Constitutions of our country, and the laws 
I under them, we make the rule of our eon- 
< ni( ''' "' imparling our sentiments to others on the 
Bubjecl of slavery. 

Mr. S. said, The enemies of our noble sentiments 
n11,1 elevated intentions, have resorted to the old 
' track of misrepresentation, and by adding to 
our code riewa never promulgated, by charging us 
with intentions never harboured, with expectations 
never cherished, and as remote from the mind of an 
abolitionist as infidelity is from the conscience of 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 1 (i9 

piety; as meanness is from generosity, as bigotry is 
from charity, as truth from falsehood, as freedom from 
slavery. They would fain make us unfit for this 
world. 

Mr. S. said, We are not judged by evidence, by 
our own declarations, either what we have said or 
done, but by acts which our wily adversaries pro- 
phesy we will do, or commit, in some future period 
of time ; and thus they lift the curtain, which shuts 
from all mortal eyes .(but prophets') the great un- 
bounded future, and "by looking down the vale of 
time, they behold us engaged in the diabolical and 
blood-thirsty work of getting laws passed to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia, and the slave 
territories, and in this way knocking the fetters from 
the bondman, which our adversaries call treason 
calculated to dissolve the union. 

What union ? 1 doubt not you may see some of 
these union patriots here to-day, who would take 
your life and mine, and that of every member of this 
Convention, and in so doing think they had done, 
their master a service, and lift up their hands for 
eternal and unmitigated slavery to every coloured 
man, woman, and child in the United States, and 
throw into the same pile all who differed with them 
in sentiment, to promote the interest of their master. 
These are the patriotic unionists, who secretly wish 
to dissolve the union, by letting the great cancer 
grow on the neck of the union, without attempting 
its cure or removal. These are the friends of the 
union, who are willing to see 2,500,000 men, wo- 
men, and children sacrificed to the. demon of slavery., 
15* 



|70 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

Those unionists are willing lo de- 
stroy you and me, -Mr. Chairman, because we are 
not terrified at the roaring of the slave-holders, and 
because we feel for two millions and a half of men, 
women, and children, who are now being offered at 
the Bhrine of cruelty, lust, and avarice. These lov- 
ers of the union refuse to hear the loud lamenta- 
tions of bitter sorrow* and hopeless grief, which, like 
the voice of a mighty flood, ascend day and night 
from every plantation, every factory, every corn 
(eld, every rice-field, every tobacco-field, every cot- 
ton-field, and every kitchen of eleven states, and 
trate the car o( God. 
Mr. S. said, The slaves never held a convention 
00 the subject of their wrongs; they met to peti- 
tion for a redress of grievances, or remonstrate 
against the manifold injuries by which they are bro- 
ken down. No ! his petition was never read with- 
in the walls of legislation ! Solemn thought even to 
Us, who for a moment have become his mouthpiece, 
to tell his wrongs to the world, and demand redress. 
.en we. white-skinned republicans, appear to 
be on the eve ot losing our rights as while men, 
from having from the deepest impulses of humanity 
ae the slave's organ, to explain to an unfeeling 
world the wrongs inflicted upon him. If white men 
in non-slaveholdiog states encounter so much noisy 
violence and injury, in barely pleading the cause 
of tin* slave before those who have no interest 
ID the slave's body, and whose only interest is to 
cringe and (latter the master of the slave, what must 
DC the condition of the poor slave, left to plead his 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 171 

own cause against his own master — that master who 
is fed sumptuously every day, and clothed in pur- 
ple and fine linen by the unpaid labour of the slave. 
When will the glutton, the wine-bibber, the adulter- 
ous, the avaricious, and the cruel, listen to the voice 
of the unaided slave? But, said Mr. S., some say, 
" The slaves can be set free twenty or thirty years 
hence." Ah ! will men have less wants then ? more 
justice and humanity then than now ? No. Again, 
if it is right to liberate slaves fifty years hence, the 
right is the same now, for there will be human 
beings in the world then, who will claim the slaves 
by a long line of descent, who will have as many 
wants to supply with slave labour as men have now. 
The sun will shine as hot, the rice-lands will be as 
unhealthy as now. 

Says Mr. S., But we are told by our enemies they 
love the slaves as well as we do; and then, with 
the next word, insult and abuse us for telling the 
world his wrongs, or attempting any redress. Mr. 
S. said he confessed that this was a new mode of 
manifesting an equality of love. But perhaps we 
do not understand our opponents ; they may mean 
that they hate slavery in the abstract, and also hate 
all means that may be used for its abolition, but per- 
haps they mean they hate slavery in the abstract, 
but love it in detail. Or perhaps they mean that 
they hate abstract slavery and mean to destroy ab- 
stract slavery, by hating all white men in favour of 
its abolition. Perhaps they hate slavery in the ab- 
stract, but love the man who causes it in the detail 



172 THE ENEMES OF THE 

H, that abstract hatred for one purpose, is pure 

f. Said Mr. S. A man might as well 

say. thai abstractedly he hated murder, adultery. 

si iling, but that lie loved the mur- 

. • trer, and thief. Away with 

northern Jesuitism, which is opposed to abstract 

slavery, but in favour of its continuance, and ready 

to kill any one who wishes to change the present 

posture of slavery, as it practically exists. Oh 

shame! hast thou not a new blush for such con- 

science-raining sophistry ? 

The same ingenious and fatal distinction has been 

taken by the wretched metaphysicians^ who are 

willing i'» barter American liberty to get gold and 

, the subject of free discussion the summer 

past. 

Anti-abolitionists at the north say they believe in 

[scussion in the abstract, and will not allow 

it to be drawn in question. But this means, 

find it interpreted and translated in the Dic- 

tionary of Daily Experience, that each man may 

,oi any thing else, in the silent cham- 

own heart, but must not discuss it in pub- 

- it may then provoke a syllogism of feathers, 

or a deduction of tar. An abolitionist may have the 

i i right of discussion, but it must be discon- 

nected with time and place, if a majority of his 

•S diffi r with him, there is no place w 
or lime when, that he may discuss. Tin's abstract 
uires an abstract place and abstract 
. theabstra \ must mean the the" solitude 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 173 

of the wilderness, or loneliness of the ocean ; and 
the abstract time must mean some portion of the 
past ox future, as it is never the present. 

The liberty of an abolition press is to be silent ; 
the liberty of conscience for an abolitionist is to 
think to himself; or else to think like his slavery- 
loving neighbour, or stop thinking. 

The threat of dissolving the union is the univer- 
sal medicine for every political difficulty at the 
south. One day Georgia threatens the dissolution, 
on account of her Indian territory, gold mines, and 
state jurisdiction, and the missionaries ; then again 
the poor union was to be dissolved by the post- 
office robbing state of South Carolina, to vindicate 
the beauties of nullification. 

Then again, this union was to have been dissolved 
in 1828, 1630, 1831,1832. At four distinct periods 
within a short space, because the tariff laws were 
not made to suit certain slave states ; but the noble 
union held together, we did not hear of a single 
rafter or brace flinching, in 1835. The union is to 
be again dissolved and charged in account current to 
abolition. The joke of it all is, that nothern men 
professed to be frightened to death every time a 
negro-driver cries "dissolve the union, — dissolve 
the union." As well might a man who lived in a 
powder-house, every time he became angry call for 
firebrands ? 

Let southern men dissolve this union if they 
dare ; slavery would then take care of itself, and 
its masters too, in one little month both would be- 
come extinct. No ! oh ! deceived northern man, 



17 1 THE ENEMIES OF THE 

the southern man will be the last to dissolve this 
union, bv it he expects to enjoy his slaves, without 
it he cannot one day. But the wily politician of the 
south has discovered the ghost that never fails to 
frighten the north, and the north has been kept in a 
political sweat for the last ten or twelve years, for 
fear the men, who could not exist as slave-holders 
without this union, would dissolve it. 

It seems dissolution is threatened by the south, 
unless thirteen free states disfigure and disgrace 
their statute books with bloody laws to protect 
slavery, forbidding abolitionists to speak, write, or 
publish any thing against slavery, or petition for its 
abolition in the District of Columbia, under heavy 
penalties ; the despotism of which lav; s would so far 
exceed any in Russia or Turkey, that Nicholas, and 

rand Seignor, would recoil with instinctive ab- 
horrence, from so foul an insult to our common hu- 

v. So it is not enough that eleven states must 

bend their backs under the shameful load of slavery, 

with statute books blushing for the wrongs done by 

• man, which all the unfathomed waters of the 

Id not wash away ; but the tongues of 

northern men, on the subject of slavery, must, cleave 

to the roofs of their mouths, and the inditing hand 

be palsied in giving the world a history of the ne- 

3. My countrymen, ye sons of the 

pilgrims, the tyrant is at your doors, liberty 

BDING, LIBERTY is DYING, slavery has robbed 

you of ihe Liberty of discussion, of conscience, and 

the press?. Armed mobs arc to do the work of the 

lolder. till the legislature obeys his mandate 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



175 



Then read from your own statute book your doom ; 
your are a slave without his privilege ! Had the 
six hundred delegates, freemen, now before me, 
been deterred from meeting this day, from fear, it 
would h.ave been worse than in vain, that a 
Warren fell, a MontgOxMery bled, and a Law- 
rence EXPIRED. 

You, for this moment, are the representatives of 
American liberty, if you are driven from this sacred 
temple dedicated to God, by an infuriated mob, then 
my brethren, wherever you go, liberty will go, 
where you abide liberty will abide, when you are 
speechless, liberty is dead.* 

No. X. 

The following individuals residing in the City of 
Utica, are referred to as witnesses of the doings in that 
city previous to and on the 21st October, most 
of them were eyewitnesses of the outrage at the 
Bleeker-street church ; one or two of them the author 
is informed were absent on that day. 



J. A. Spencer, Esq, 
John Bradish, Esq. 
Samuel P. Lyman, 
Hon. James Dean, 
Sylvanus Holmes, 
John H. Edmonds, Esq. 
P.H. Hurlbert, 
Dr. J. P. Batchelder, 
Dr. Rathbun, 
Doiphus Bennet, 
Bradford Seymour, 



E. M. Gilbert, 
James M'Gregor, 
H. Bnshnell, 
Andrew Hanna, 
Amos S. West, 
David Owens, 
B. F. Farwell, 
D. E. Stilwell, 
B. S. Merrill, 
Edward Norris, 
Eli Manchester, 



* The fact, that they were driven from the place where they were 
then assembled, with all the circumstances attending that unparalled 
outrage, have already appeared. 



176 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



<;< o. Tracy, 
Gardiner Tracy, 
James Knox, Esq. 
T. I'. Tracy, 

Wm. 15. Clark, 
John C. Hastings, 
John Wells, 
Apolloa Cooper, 
Alfred Hitchcock, 
William Stacy, 
Edward Bright, 
J. II. Richmond, 
Edward Curran, 
John S. Peckham, 
Thomas Sidebotham, 
John Fish, 
Zenas Wright, 
Alexander Cameron, 
Wm. T. Meeker, 
Quartus Graves, 
Anson Thomas, 
Curtiss Holgate, 
Abijah Thomas, 
Levi is Lawrence, 
A Ivan Stewart, Esq. 

Spencer Kellogg, 
Jacob Snyder, 
James < ! Delong, 
Rev. Oliver Wetmore, 
Samuel Lightbody, 
George Lawson, 
( }eo. I). Foster, 
Francis W right, 
Mori is V- ilcox, 
Palmer V. Kell 
Orren Clark, 
Rev. \iims Sai age, 
John B. Shaw, 
Frederick Southwortb, 
Shubael Storrs, 
s. II. Addington, 



J. T. Lyman, Esq. 
S. M. Perrine, 

Win. C. Rodgers, 
Win, G. Miller, 
Thomas Stevenson, 
Wm. Sowers, 
Henry D. Tucker, 
Edward Herrick, 
Thomas James, 
S. Bay ley, 
Thomas Powell, 
Lucius Lawrence, 
Rev. James GriiTeth, 
John S. Bailey, 
Thomas Thomas, 
Daniel Thomas, 
Job Parker, 
Thomas Roundey, 
Abijah Mosher, 
James C. Gilbert, 
Ezekiel Clark, 
Henry S. Cole, 
Rev. Abijah Crane, 
W. D. Hamblin, 
Henry Nash, 
\>aph Seymour, 
Elisha Ca'dwelJ, 
Noah White, 
Wells M. Gayloid, 
James Sayre, 
Levi Kello 
Phillip Thurber, 
J. E, Warner, 

- W. Thomas, 
John Thomas, 
J. 1). Corey, 
Geo. Smith, 
W. F. Gould, 

.1. Martin, 

Amaziah llotchkiss, 
John S. Lattimore, 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED, 



ITT 



Geo. L. Dickinson, 
John P. Guest, 
John F. Temple, 
Erastus Barnes, 
Jacob Vanderhuyden, 
Orrin Kendall, 
Josiah J. Ward, 
Alfred Wells, 
Ira Thurber, 
Oliver V. Worden, 
L. P. Rising, 
Thomas M. Martyn, 
James Clark, 
E. R. Beadle, 
L. S. Kellogg, 
Henry Newland, 
Richard C. Thomas, 
Robert Debnam, 
David Lynes, 
E. P. Marshall, 
David Ladd, 
E. P. Curry, 
Samuel Thorn, 
Palmer Town send, 
William Whiteley, 
George Brayton, 
Thomas Davis, 
I. P. Van Sice, 
S. M. Beck with, 
Stephen N. Bushnell, 
George Walker, 
E. P. Clark, 
Wm. H. Gray, 
Theodore Monroe, 
Nelson Fleetwood, 
Henry Putman, 
Dr. Joseph P. Newland, 
Mr. Arnold, 

Barnes, 

"William Parker, 
Nathan Christian, 



|J. W. Doolittle, 
Abram Ciemmer, 

D. II. Hastings, 
John Moffit, 
Edward Vernon, 
AlerickHubbell, 
Braaford S. Merrill, 
C. Burnett, 
Robert Roberts, 
John Lloyd, 

Isaac Merrill, 
Wm. G. Miller, 
A. Mosher, 
Chester Scofleld, 
William Clark, Proprietor 
of Temperance Hotel, 
Henry Johnson, Esq. 
William Williams, 

E. Carrington, 
William Osbom, 
Charles Border, 
J. G. Kittie, 
Jacob D. Edwards, 
C. Field, Esq. 
Orrin Marshall, 

A. V. H. Webb, 
J. C. Shippy, 
S. G. Giles, 
M. S.Bailey, 
W. D. Hamlin, 
W. Kimball, 
Silas Hawes, 
John Bailey, 
S. Aylesworth, 
Charles Doolittle, 
William " H -. Dobson,, 
William M. Davis, 
Maj. William Gere, 
Stephen Mather, 
David E. Morris, 



16 



178 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



The following individuals were in the City of Uticc, 
on the 21st October, and were eyewitnesses of the 
disgraceful proceedings above related. There may be 
two or three exceptions. In giving so many names 
it is possible some few inaccuracies may have been 
committed. 



Allegany county, 
A. (J. Prentiss, 
Josiah Bradley, Esq. 

Cayuga county, 
J. Crane, Auburn. 

Broome county, 
EHsha Hall. 

Chatauquc county, 
J. M. Ketchum, 
O. P. Conklin, 
P. Eddy. 

Chenango county, 
Rev. Henry Snyder, 
William Avery. Sherburne 
Eli Lee, do. 

J. W. Fox, do. 

S. Carver, do. 

Rev.S. Huwlry, W. Link- 

laen, 
Elias Childs, Roxdale. 

Clinton county, 
Thomas B. Watson, Esq. 
T* ev. Horatio Foot, 
William J. Savage. 

Cortland county, 
Ira Bowen, 
S. S. Bradford, Homer. 

Delaware county, 
Rev. J. A- Hoyt, Franklin. 
Isaac Piatt. do. 

Dutchess county, 
Willard Burr, Poughkeep- 

sic, 
Samuel Thompson, do. 



Erie county, 

Rev. Abiel Parmerlee, 

L. A. Skinner, 

Edwin A. Marsh, 

Ambrose George. 
Genesee county, 

Rev. William Arthur, 
Perry, 

Samuel H. Gridley, do. 

Abraham E. Unis, do. 

Samuel F. Phoenix, do. 

Josiah Andrews, do. 

Roswell Gould, 

Dr. Augustus Frank, War- 
saw, 

Ezra Walker, do. 

Win. Buxton, do. 

Samuel Fisher, do. 

Isaac C. Brownston, do. 
Greene county, 

Robert Jackson, Catskill. 
Herkimer county, 

Dr. David Bingham, Nor- 
way, 

John M. Andrews, 

O. C. Brown, Litchfield, 

Isaac Mills, do. 

Oliver Prescott, 

Elam Holcomb, 

W. B. Armstrong. 
Jefferson county, 

Rev. Henry Jones, Ant- 
werp, 

J. A. Northup, do. 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



179 



Rev. Marcus Smith. 
Kings county, 
Luther Lamsen, Lorrain, 
Lorin Bushnell, do. 

Lewis county, 
Gen, J. A. Northop, Low- 

ville, 
Dr. David Perry, do. 
Rev. I. L. Crandell. 

Livingston county, 
Reuben Sleeper, Mount 
Morris. 

Madison county, 
Rev. John Ingersol, Caze- 

novia, 
Allen Kingsbury, Esq. do. 
W. L. Wilson, do. 

Henry Van Drieson, 
Rev. J. W. Spoor, 
Amos Gilbert," Smithfield, 
Barnabas Snow, do. 
Orrin Stevens, do. 
Wm. P. St. Johns, 
C. Bascom, Hamilton, 
Rev. Lumand Wilcox, do. 
Zebulon Weaver, do. 

F. B. Ward, 
James Gloucester,. 
Henry Randall-, 
E. H. Payson, 
William Mors«, 
Amariah Williams, 
Rev. Wm. B. Tompkins 

Lebanon, 
Thomas Bright, do. 
Ezra CampbeH, do. 
N. Shapley, do, 

John W. Ad-ams, 
Edward Stanford, 
Edward Lewis, Esq* 
Joseph M. Carson, 



Willard Colton, 

S. Marsh, 

William Everts, 

E. Sears, 

Dr. Milton Barnett, 

Dr. Fordyce Rice, 

George Dorrance, 'Peter- 

boro, do. 

Gerrit Smith, Esq, do. 
Montgomery county, 
William Elder, 
Edward Leonard. 

City and county of 
New- York, 
William Green, Jun. 
Richard Cunningham, 
Rev. Samuel Beeman, 
J. W. Higgins, 
Rev. Daniel Clark, 
Robert Brown, 
J. M. Dimond, 
L. W. Gilbert, 
Rev. Joshua Leavitt, 

Editorof N. Y. Evan- 
gelist, 
Edward A. Lambert, 
J. F. Robinson, Esq. 
A. B. Rumsey, 
Baxter Sayre, 
Lewis Tappan, 
R. G. Williams, 
Charles Whittlesey, 
E. Wright, Jun. 
S. D. Childs, 

Wm. S. Dorr, 

N. H. Blackford, 

Wm. A. Holdridge, 

James. H. Parker, 

Duncan Kennedy, 

L. C. Gunn, 

George H. White,, 






THE ENEMIES OF THE 



' \. Dwight, 

s Pitts, 
i id Ruggl< -. 
\\ ashing ton Erring, 
Truman Roberts. 

Ni igara county, 
Mr v. A. Ingersol, 
J. Try on Trotter, 
Dr. J'. W. Smith. 

Oneida county, 
R v. Beriah Green, 

Whitestown, 
R '. . John Frost, do. 
Rf. S. Losev, do. 

W. H.Ttbbitts, do. 
David Foster, do. 
Vincent L. Love]], do. 
I,. Bliss, do. 

C. D. Wolcolt, do. 
and 100 others do. 
Dr. X. Shcril], Westmore 

land, 
Harvey Brighaxn, do 

Simeon Lyman, do 

Rev. Harvey Biodgett, do 
" E. Fairehild, do 

" Abraham .Miles, do, 
Dr. Edward Loomis, i\o, 
John Town send, Esq* do. 
H. G. Loomis, do. 

Rufua Pratt, do. 

Charles Judson, do, 

Benj. S. Graves, do. 

and many otliers do. 
Dr. U. II. Kellogg, 
iN. Hartford, 
John A. Head, {\i). 
James Wells, do. 
Francis D. Porter, do. 
R. Seymour, do. 

Warren Gates, do. 



[Rev. A. Mills, do, 

and many others do. 
• Norman Miller, Vienna, 

O. S. Parmelee, Clinton, 

H. Pollard, do. 

Sheldon Parmelee, do. 

John Dodge, 

Wm. S. Gale, 

Dr. A. Holbrook, 
' Geo. Stedman. 
| Amos Hunt, 

Jackson Tibbetts, Rome, 

S. B. Roberts, Esq. do. 

A. Sedgwick, do. 
Dr. Arha Blair, do. 

B. P. Johnson, Esq. do. 
Charles Barnes, Saquoit, 
Henry Crane, do. 
Alonzo Gray, do. 
F. A. Uray, do. 
F. A. Spencer, Verona, 
J. M. Benham, Bridgewa- 

ter, 
Rufus Bacon, 
Gates Miller, Vienna, 
Rev. Rufus R. Dunning, 

Trenton, 

O. Parker, do. 

Isaac Curry Esq, do, 
Nehemiah Cobb, 
John Wood, 
S. B. Lyman, 
J. W. Gilmore, 
E. O. Ward, 
S. T. Voorhies, 
Theodore Miller, 
Jeremiah Prescott, 
Charles M'Lane, 
John G. Kellogg, 
Samuel Wells, 



I Professor Grant, 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 



181 



I. A. Canfield, 
Giles Waldo, 
I. F. Griffin, 
Wm. Smith, 
J. O. Wattles,. 

D. C. Wilbour, 
W. B. Ransom, 
A. G. Beeman, 
Sydney Bryant, 
S. P. Hough. 

Onondaga County, 
Rev. S. S. Smith, Fayette 

P. O. 
" Charles Smith, Man- 

lius, 
" Wm. Wheeler Dewitt, 
Darling Thompson, Esq. 
John M'Vickar, Fayette- 

ville, 
rmnp AMint, uo. 
J. H. Waldo, 
W. M. Clark, 
R. S. Orvis. 

Otsego County, 
Rev. C. E. Goodrich, 

Cooperstown, 
R. S. Peters, Hartwick, 
Rev. Waters Warren, Gil- 

bertville, 
Charles Root, do. 
Rev. D. Van Valkenburg, 

Richfield, 
C. J. Walker, Coopers- 
town, 
F. N. Andrews, 
Horace Foot, Burlington, 
Martin Bridges, 
Rev. J. B. Graves, Otsego, 

E. C. Adams, Coopers- 

town, 
R. C. Swift, Hartwick,, 



A. D. Hollister, Burling- 
ton. 
Oswego County, 

Edward Griffing, 

Rev. Raloh Robinson, 
" Mr. fucker, 

A. H. Stevens, 

Thomas C. Baker, 

J. C. Jackson, 

A. S. Savage, 

William Gail, 

John Clark, 

Edward Griffin, 

Rev. Luther Myrick, 

Charles Marshall, 

Robert M'Farland, 

S. Cole, 

I. T. Headley, 

J. S. Savage, Mexico. 
y^iuano county, 

Hunter Robinson, Canan- 
daigua, 

Franklin Howe, 

John Mather, 

A. B. Smith, 

George Donan, 

James Talman, 

R. B. Palmer, 

S. J. M. Beebe, 

Sidney San-tell. 

Orleans County, 

Samuel A. Rawson. 
Monroe County, 

Geo. A. Avery, Rochester, 

W. U. Rudd, do. 

S. S. Nichols, do. 

L. M. Moore, do. 

C. Avery, do. 

A. J. Burr, do. 

E. Stillson, do* 

Spencer Davis, do. 



182 



THE ENEMIES OF THE 



Silas Cornell, do. 

Rev. Elon Galusha, do. 

Levi W. Sibley, do. 

Samuel Hamilton, 

Hon. Henry Brewster, 
Riga, 

O. Savage, 

Benj. Pish, 

11. B. Sherman. 

G. A. Hollister, 

A.Gould, 

I!. Strong, 

O. F. A very. 

A. G. Hall, Penfield, 

R, ( 'lapp, Greece, 

R. Dc Forest, Chnrchill, 

Thomas Blossom, Brigh- 
ton, 

Or«r.rC Stone, 



do. 
do. 



Joseph Bloss, 

C. C. Footc, East Mendon 

D. Cranch, 
Rev. I. I. Fulton, 
William S. Elliott, 
Rev. A. P. Brooks, 
Edward Moore, Roches- 
ter, 

Mr. Atwater, do. 

tt nsselaer County, 

Rev. J. II. Martyn, Green- 
hush, 
John Grey, 

Amos K. I lad lev, Trov, 

Wells If. Ilndley, do.' 

J (din I. Miter, do. 

Yates, do. 

Prentiss W. Marsh, 

Rev. Isaac Foster, 



R. J. Knowlson, 

S. H. Gregory, 

John Sad en. 

Saratoga County, 

Rev. Caleb Green. 
Suffolk County, 

Rev. C. J. Knowles, 

George Miller, River- 
head. 
Tompkins Count u. 

Dr. S. Bliss, 

A. Northrop, 

Rev. Marcus Harrison, 
Ludrowville. 
Warren County, 

Elias Patterson, 

James S. Judd. 

Washington County, 

Rev. Nathaniel Culver. 

Dr. Hiram Corliss, 

William H. Morey, 

Rev. Thomas Powell, 

John F. Scovill, 

A. P. Beebe. 

Wayne County, 

Cephas Foster, 

A. B. Smith, 

Jared C. Hathaway. 
St. Laurence County. 

L. M. Shepard. 

State of Ohio, 

Rev. John J. Shipherd, 
Oberlin, 

Albert Bliss, Elyria, 

Philemon Bliss, do. 
State of Virginia, 

F.A. Wingfield, Esq. Nor- 
folk. 



N. B. The author has hcon furnished With the names of several 
hundreds of other individuals, residing m different parts of the 



CONSTITUTION DISCOVERED. 183 

country, who were in Utica on the 21st. Ot*. and were witnesses 
to most of the transactions of that day, but there can be no neces- 
sity of naming above five hundred. The characters of the above 
mentioned persons, it is believed, are without exception, beyond 
reproach. The names of five hundre-d more will be given in du« 
time if it should become necessary. 



THE END. 



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